We Require a Chopper to Locate Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Aid Relatives Stranded Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim 2.5 miles in choppy, open water and sprinting two kilometres to summon rescue for his kin.

The operator questions how long has elapsed since he began.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we must get a helicopter to search for them,” he states.

Emergency services have released the recorded plea made last month after the youth left his family floating at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he voices his fear for his kin.

“I don’t know what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the dispatcher.

“Mum said go get help … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

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

His parent urged him to set out and find help, so the youth began, abandoning first his sinking craft then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted for two kilometres to retrieve a mobile phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, 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 explain – I think I need an ambulance 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 Vacation Gone Wrong

The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later recalled that they were enjoying themselves when the young ones “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they dropped their paddles, and started drifting.

“It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.

The parent also described having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim to land.

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

The Search Operation

The youth described being “completely out of breath”.

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

The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, many hours after they first departed, the stranded individuals were found and brought to safety. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.

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

A senior officer who oversaw the operation said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“What Austin did was incredibly brave. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The commander also commended how the boy calmly conveyed vital details.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the rescue team, the teenager responded: “They were green and white.”

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