We Require a Chopper to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Urgent Plea to Save Relatives Lost Off Down Under Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” young Austin Appelbee explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, after swimming 2.5 miles in rough, the sea and sprinting 1.25 miles to get assistance for his kin.

The call taker questions how long has gone by since he started out.

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

Authorities have made public the distress call made last month after the youth departed from his family adrift at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains lucid and collected, even as he details his fear for his family members.

“I am unsure of what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he confides in the dispatcher.

“Mum said go get help … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

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

His parent urged him to set out and locate rescue, so the youth began, discarding first his waterlogged vessel then his bulky flotation device to swim the distance.

After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he sprinted for two kilometres to get to a phone.

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

“I’m sitting 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 extremely tired. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

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

The mother later explained that they were having fun when the young ones “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

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

The mother also referenced having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to instruct her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the strongest and he had the ability to succeed,” she stated.

The Rescue Effort

The boy described being “extremely winded”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he recalled.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

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

The audio was made public with the family’s permission.

A forward commander who oversaw the rescue mission said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

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

The sergeant also commended how the boy clearly relayed vital details.

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

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this rod, and there was a fish on there. Since we managed to catch a fish.”