We Must Have a Helicopter to Search For Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Relatives Lost Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We became disoriented out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the 000 call handler, after swimming 2.5 miles in treacherous, open ocean and sprinting 2km to summon rescue for his household.

The dispatcher questions how much time has elapsed since he started out.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we need a helicopter to search for them,” he says.

Emergency services have made public the distress call made last month after the boy departed from his loved ones adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he expresses his worry for his kin.

“I am unsure of what their condition is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the person on the line.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in grave peril.”

The Perilous Situation

The mother and children had been swept 2.5 miles out to sea in rough conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His mother urged him to take his kayak and get assistance, so the youth began, ditching first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After making it to shore – after an extensive period – he raced for 1.25 miles to access a mobile phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he tells the operator.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The family was on vacation in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later recalled that they were having fun when the young ones “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all turned bad very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The parent also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to ask her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the strongest and he was able to manage it,” she commented.

The Search Operation

The teenager recalled being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do elementary backstroke,” he recalled.

The distress call was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the family were spotted and rescued. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.

The recording was made public with the family’s permission.

A forward commander who coordinated the rescue mission said the family was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was extremely pressing given how much time they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the teenager did was incredibly brave. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

The commander also commended how the youth calmly conveyed key facts.

When asked to identify the boards for the rescue team, the boy said: “They were coloured green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s still attached, but they had this rod, and there was a fish on there. Because we caught one.”