We Must Have a Chopper to Search For Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Lost Off Aussie Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the 000 call handler, after swimming four kilometres in choppy, the sea and jogging 1.25 miles to summon rescue for his kin.

The call taker questions how much time has passed since he began.

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

Authorities have released the distress call made in recent weeks after the boy departed from his relatives drifting at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he voices his worry for his family members.

“I am unsure of what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he informs the person on the line.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in serious danger.”

The Perilous Situation

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

His mum asked him to use his craft and locate rescue, so the teenager set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he ran for 2km to get to a cell phone.

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

“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 hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to faint.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The group was on a break in Quindalup, 125 miles south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later explained that they were having fun when the children “drifted further than intended”. The conditions worsened, they were separated from their equipment, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to ask her son to make the swim for help.

“I knew he was the most capable and he could do it,” she stated.

The Search Operation

The youth described being “completely out of breath”.

“I just pressed on, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, ten hours after they first set out, the stranded individuals were found and brought to safety. They had floated about 14km out to sea.

The audio was released with the parents' permission.

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

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

“What the teenager did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a successful outcome.”

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

When asked to detail 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 line, and there was a fish on there. Since we caught one.”