‘We Need a Chopper to Search For Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Lost Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” a 13-year-old boy informs the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim four kilometres in treacherous, the sea and jogging two kilometres to secure help for his household.

The operator asks how much time has gone by since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we must get a chopper to search for them,” he says.

Emergency services have disclosed the distress call made previously after the youth departed from his loved ones floating at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his concern for his kin.

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he informs the person on the line.

“Mum said go get help … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been swept 2.5 miles out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum asked him to set out and locate rescue, so the youth began, discarding first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After making it to shore – four hours later – he sprinted for 2km to get to 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 explains the call handler.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an medical help because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The group was on vacation in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “drifted further than intended”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

“It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim to land.

“I knew he was the best swimmer and he could do it,” she commented.

The Successful Mission

The teenager described being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first began, the family were spotted and rescued. They had floated about 14km out to sea.

The audio was shared with the parents' permission.

A forward commander who coordinated the rescue mission said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was absolutely critical given how long they had been in the water and with night approaching.

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

The commander also praised how the boy calmly conveyed vital details.

When asked to identify the paddleboards for the search crew, the boy responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this fishing rod, and there was a catch on the line. Because we managed to catch a fish.”