‘We Need a Chopper to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Distress Call to Aid Relatives Lost Off Australian Coast Disclosed

“We became disoriented out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming four kilometres in choppy, open water and running 1.25 miles to get assistance for his family.

The operator inquires how long has passed since he started out.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we must get a chopper to locate them,” he reports.

Emergency services have released the distress call made previously after the boy departed from his relatives drifting at sea off the West Australian coast to seek assistance.

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

“I am unsure of what their state is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he confides in the person on the line.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been swept 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His parent asked him to use his craft and find help, so the boy set off, discarding first his waterlogged vessel then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 2km to get to a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the call handler.

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an medical help because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on vacation in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were playing around when the young ones “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

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

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

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

The Search Operation

The youth explained being “extremely winded”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he explained.

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the stranded individuals were spotted and rescued. They had drifted about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The recording was shared with the mother’s permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the operation said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“What the boy did was truly remarkable. His heroic actions in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The sergeant also praised how the boy effectively communicated critical information.

When asked to describe the equipment for the search crew, the boy replied: “They were coloured green and white.”

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