‘We Need a Aircraft to Search For Them’: Teenager’s Emergency Call to Rescue Loved Ones Adrift Off Australian Coast Unveiled

“We ended up adrift out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the 000 call handler, having swum four kilometres in rough, open water and sprinting 1.25 miles to secure help for his family.

The call taker inquires how much time has gone by since he set off.

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

Police have released the emergency phone call made previously after the boy left his family floating at sea off the Western Australian coast to find rescuers.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he expresses his worry for his family members.

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the dispatcher.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in serious danger.”

The Perilous Situation

The family group had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in rough conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His parent asked him to set out and locate rescue, so the boy set off, abandoning first his waterlogged vessel then his bulky flotation device to cover the remaining stretch.

After making it to shore – four hours later – he sprinted for two kilometres to retrieve a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he explains the call handler.

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

A Getaway in Peril

The group was on a break 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 described that they were having fun when the children “drifted further than intended”. The conditions worsened, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

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

The mother also referenced having to make “an incredibly tough choice” to send her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the best swimmer and he had the ability to succeed,” she stated.

The Rescue Effort

The teenager described being “completely out of breath”.

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

The call for help was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the stranded individuals were located and saved. They had been carried about 14km out to sea.

The audio was released with the parents' permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the rescue mission said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“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 boy did was nothing short of extraordinary. His heroic actions in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also commended how the teenager clearly relayed critical information.

When asked to describe the paddleboards for the search crew, the boy responded: “They were green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s still on, but they had this fishing rod, and there was a fish hooked. As we caught one.”