‘We Need a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Teenager’s Emergency Call to Rescue Relatives Adrift Off Aussie Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” the teenager tells the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim four kilometres in treacherous, open water and running 2km to summon rescue for his kin.

The dispatcher questions how much time has passed since he set off.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we must get a rescue aircraft to search for them,” he reports.

Emergency services have disclosed the recorded plea made in recent weeks after the boy left his loved ones drifting at sea off the WA coast to fetch help.

His voice remains lucid and collected, even as he details his fear for his family.

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

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

The Perilous Situation

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

His mother instructed him to take his kayak and locate rescue, so the teenager began, ditching first his failing kayak then his bulky flotation device to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – after an extensive period – he sprinted for 2km to access a mobile phone.

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

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also mention – 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 collapse.”

A Getaway in Peril

The group 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 mother later explained that they were having fun when the children “went out a bit too far”. The wind picked up, they were separated from their equipment, and started being carried out.

“It sort of all turned bad very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also described having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to ask her son to swim ashore.

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

The Rescue Effort

The youth recalled being “very puffed out”.

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

The emergency call was made at around 6pm.

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

The emergency call was shared with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who managed the search and rescue effort said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was extremely pressing given how long they had been in the water and with daylight fading.

“What the boy did was truly remarkable. 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 calmly conveyed vital details.

When asked to describe the boards for the authorities, the youth replied: “They were a green and white colour.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this fishing line, and there was a fish on there. Since we managed to catch a fish.”