We Require a Helicopter to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Distress Call to Aid Family Adrift Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee informs the 000 call handler, after swimming four kilometres in choppy, the sea and sprinting two kilometres to summon rescue for his household.

The dispatcher asks how much time has elapsed since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we require a helicopter to go find them,” he reports.

Police have released the recorded plea made last month after the teen departed from his loved ones drifting at sea off the Western Australian coast to find rescuers.

His voice remains clear and calm, even as he expresses his concern for his family.

“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he tells the dispatcher.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

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

His parent instructed him to use his craft and find help, so the boy began, abandoning first his failing kayak then his unwieldy PFD to make the journey by swimming.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 1.25 miles to access a 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 located on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The family was on a break in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later explained that they were having fun when the kids “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

“It kind of all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also described having to make “a terribly difficult call” to instruct her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Successful Mission

The youth explained being “very puffed out”.

“I just continued swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke,” he said.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the group were spotted and rescued. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The emergency call was released with the family’s permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was extremely pressing given how long they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His bravery and courage in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a positive result.”

The commander also praised how the teenager calmly conveyed key facts.

When asked to describe the paddleboards for the authorities, the boy said: “They were green and white.”

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