We Must Have a Helicopter to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Aid Relatives Lost Off Australian Coast Unveiled
“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager tells the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 4km in choppy, the sea and sprinting 2km to secure help for his family.
The dispatcher questions how long has passed since he started out.
“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re far offshore. I think we must get a chopper to go find them,” he states.
Authorities have made public the distress call made last month after the youth left his relatives adrift at sea off the WA coast to fetch help.
His demeanour remains lucid and collected, even as he voices his concern for his family members.
“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he informs the operator.
“Mum said go get help … We were in grave peril.”
The Harrowing Ordeal
The holidaymakers had been swept four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.
His parent asked him to use his craft and get assistance, so the youth set off, abandoning first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to make the journey by swimming.
After making it to shore – after an extensive period – he sprinted for 2km to access a phone.
“Hello, my name is Austin … I have younger siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the emergency services.
“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”
A Vacation Gone Wrong
The group was on holiday in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.
The parent later recalled that they were playing around when the kids “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they lost their oars, and started being carried out.
“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.
The parent also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to send her son to swim ashore.
“I knew he was the strongest and he could do it,” she commented.
The Search Operation
The youth recalled being “completely out of breath”.
“I just keep swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he recalled.
The call for help was made at around 6pm.
At roughly 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the group were located and saved. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.
The emergency call was shared with the family’s permission.
A senior officer who oversaw the search and rescue effort said the group was in an “desperately dangerous position”.
“They were in genuine danger, and time was absolutely critical given how much time they had been in the water and with daylight fading.
“What the boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a rescue.”
The officer also praised how the youth effectively communicated critical information.
When asked to describe the paddleboards for the search crew, the teenager replied: “They were coloured green and white.”
“And I’m not sure if it’s still on, but they had this fishing rod, and there was a catch on the line. Since we caught one.”
