We Must Have a Helicopter to Locate Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Distress Call to Aid Family Lost Off Down Under Coast Disclosed

“We became disoriented out there,” a 13-year-old boy explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 2.5 miles in rough, open water and running 2km to secure help for his kin.

The operator asks how long has passed since he set off.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we need a chopper to go find them,” he says.

Authorities have disclosed the emergency phone call made previously after the youth departed from his relatives drifting at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he details his worry for his family.

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

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in massive trouble.”

The Perilous Situation

The holidaymakers had been carried 4km out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum instructed him to use his craft and find help, so the youth commenced, ditching first his waterlogged vessel then his unwieldy PFD to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – after an extensive period – he raced for two kilometres to get to a phone.

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

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m extremely tired. I have heatstroke, 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 around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later described that they were enjoying themselves when the kids “went out a bit too far”. The wind picked up, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

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

The mother also spoke of having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim ashore.

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

The Search Operation

The teenager recalled being “extremely winded”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do a floating stroke,” he recalled.

The call for help was made at approximately 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the group were spotted and rescued. They had been carried about 9 miles out to sea.

The recording was made public with the parents' permission.

A police sergeant who oversaw the search and rescue effort said the group was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

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

“What Austin did was incredibly brave. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a positive result.”

The commander also praised how the youth effectively communicated vital details.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the search crew, the youth said: “They were a green and white colour.”

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