We Require a Aircraft to Locate Them’: Adolescent’s Urgent Plea to Rescue Family Stranded Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We got lost out there,” the teenager informs the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim four kilometres in rough, the sea and sprinting 1.25 miles to get assistance for his household.

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

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

Authorities have disclosed the recorded plea made previously after the teen left his family floating at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His voice remains steady and composed, even as he details his concern for his family members.

“I am unsure of what their state is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the operator.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in massive trouble.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been swept 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum asked him to use his craft and locate rescue, so the teenager set off, discarding first his sinking craft then his unwieldy PFD to swim the distance.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he raced for 2km to get to a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, 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 mention – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The family was on a break in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later recalled that they were having fun when the children “ventured out too far”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

“It sort of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she remarked.

The parent also spoke of having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to instruct her son to swim ashore.

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

The Search Operation

The teenager described being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do elementary backstroke,” he said.

The call for help was made at approximately 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first began, the group were located and saved. They had been carried about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The recording was shared with the parents' permission.

A police sergeant who oversaw the operation said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“What the teenager did was nothing short of extraordinary. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a positive result.”

The commander also highlighted how the teenager calmly conveyed key facts.

When asked to identify the equipment for the search crew, the boy replied: “They were green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this rod, and there was a catch on the line. Because we caught one.”