‘We Need a Aircraft to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Save Family Stranded Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” young Austin Appelbee explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim 4km in treacherous, open ocean and jogging 2km to summon rescue for his kin.

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

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a helicopter to go find them,” he states.

Police have made public the emergency phone call made previously after the youth left his loved ones floating at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

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

“I have no idea about what their state is right now, and I’m terrified,” he tells the dispatcher.

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been carried four kilometres out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His parent urged him to set out and find help, so the teenager began, ditching first his sinking craft then his bulky flotation device to swim the distance.

After reaching land – four hours later – he sprinted for two kilometres to retrieve a mobile phone.

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

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The family was on holiday in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later described that they were having fun when the children “drifted further than intended”. The wind picked up, they were separated from their equipment, and started being carried out.

“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.

The mother also referenced having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to ask her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Successful Mission

The boy recalled being “completely out of breath”.

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

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, many hours after they first set out, the family were spotted and rescued. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The audio was shared with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the operation said the group was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

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

“What the boy did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a rescue.”

The officer also highlighted how the youth effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to describe the paddleboards for the search crew, the teenager responded: “They were 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 managed to catch a fish.”