‘We Need a Chopper to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Save Family Stranded Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We ended up adrift out there,” the teenager explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim 2.5 miles in treacherous, open ocean and jogging 1.25 miles to get assistance for his household.

The call taker inquires how long has elapsed since he set off.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we require a helicopter to go find them,” he states.

Authorities have made public the emergency phone call made in recent weeks after the boy left his family drifting at sea off the WA coast to fetch help.

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

“I have no idea about what their condition is right now, and I’m terrified,” he confides in the dispatcher.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother urged him to take his kayak and locate rescue, so the youth commenced, discarding first his waterlogged vessel then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After reaching land – four hours later – he ran for 2km 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 explains the operator.

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have hyperthermia, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The group was on a break in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were playing around when the kids “ventured out too far”. The wind picked up, they dropped their paddles, and started floating away.

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

The parent also referenced having to make “a terribly difficult call” to instruct her son to swim to land.

“I knew he was the most capable and he was able to manage it,” she commented.

The Search Operation

The boy recalled being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he recalled.

The call for help was made at about 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 fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The audio was made public with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who oversaw the operation said the family was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was of the essence given how much time they had been in the water and with night approaching.

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

The commander also commended how the teenager effectively communicated vital details.

When asked to detail the equipment for the authorities, the youth 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. Because we hooked one.”