We Must Have a Helicopter to Search For Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Adrift Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy informs the emergency operator, after swimming 2.5 miles in treacherous, the sea and sprinting 1.25 miles to summon rescue for his family.

The call taker inquires how long has passed since he set off.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we must get a chopper to search for them,” he says.

Police have disclosed the emergency phone call made last month after the youth left his family drifting at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he voices his worry for his family.

“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the person on the line.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been pulled four kilometres out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother asked him to take his kayak and get assistance, so the youth set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted for two kilometres 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 sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The family was on a break in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later described that they were playing around when the kids “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started floating away.

“It sort of all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The mother also described having to make “a terribly difficult call” to send her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the most capable and he had the ability to succeed,” she commented.

The Successful Mission

The boy described being “completely out of breath”.

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

The emergency call was made at about 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the family were located and saved. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The recording was shared with the mother’s permission.

A forward commander who managed the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was of the essence given how long they had been in the water and with light running out.

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

The officer also praised how the teenager calmly conveyed critical information.

When asked to describe the equipment for the authorities, the teenager replied: “They were green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this fishing line, and there was a fish hooked. Since we hooked one.”