We Require a Chopper to Search For Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Relatives Stranded Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the emergency operator, having swum 4km in choppy, the sea and running two kilometres to summon rescue for his family.

The operator inquires how much time has elapsed since he began.

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

Authorities have released the distress call made previously after the youth left his family adrift at sea off the West Australian coast to fetch help.

His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he voices his fear for his family.

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

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

The Harrowing Ordeal

The holidaymakers had been carried 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His parent urged him to use his craft and locate rescue, so the boy began, abandoning first his sinking craft then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – following a four-hour swim – he ran for 2km to retrieve a mobile phone.

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

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an medical help because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The group was on vacation in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later explained that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they were separated from their equipment, and started floating away.

“It pretty much all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she said.

The mother also described having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to instruct her son to make the swim for help.

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

The Search Operation

The boy recalled being “extremely winded”.

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

The emergency call was made at around 6pm.

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

The audio was made public with the parents' permission.

A forward commander who managed the rescue mission said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

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

“What Austin did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a rescue.”

The commander also highlighted how the teenager calmly conveyed critical information.

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

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