‘We Need a Chopper to Go Find Them’: 13-Year-Old’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Lost Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We became disoriented out there,” a 13-year-old boy tells the emergency operator, after swimming 4km in treacherous, open ocean and jogging 1.25 miles to get assistance for his kin.

The dispatcher asks how much time has gone by since he started out.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a rescue aircraft to locate them,” he states.

Emergency services have made public the distress call made in recent weeks after the boy left his relatives adrift at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.

His tone remains lucid and collected, even as he expresses his worry for his family.

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the person on the line.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The holidaymakers had been pulled four kilometres out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His parent asked him to set out and find help, so the boy set off, abandoning first his failing kayak then his unwieldy PFD to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he raced for 2km to access a 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 call handler.

“I’m located on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Holiday Turned Crisis

The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres 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 enjoying themselves when the kids “went out a bit too far”. The conditions worsened, they lost their oars, and started floating away.

“It kind of all became dangerous very, very quickly,” she remarked.

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

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

The Rescue Effort

The youth recalled being “completely out of breath”.

“I just keep swimming, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he said.

The emergency call was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first began, the group were found and brought to safety. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The recording was released with the mother’s permission.

A forward commander who coordinated the operation said the group was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“What the boy did was incredibly brave. His bravery and courage in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

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

When asked to detail the equipment for the rescue team, the boy replied: “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. Since we hooked one.”