‘We Need a Helicopter to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Save Relatives Adrift Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We became disoriented out there,” young Austin Appelbee informs the emergency operator, having swum 4km in treacherous, open ocean and running 1.25 miles to secure help for his family.

The dispatcher inquires how long has passed since he began.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a chopper to go find them,” he states.

Authorities have released the emergency phone call made previously after the youth left his relatives drifting at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

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

“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 Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been carried 2.5 miles out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.

His parent instructed him to take his kayak and locate rescue, so the teenager began, discarding first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.

After getting to the beach – four hours later – he raced for 1.25 miles to retrieve a cell phone.

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

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also add – I think I need an ambulance because I think I have a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m utterly fatigued. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The group was on a break in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay some time after 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later described that they were playing around when the children “drifted further than intended”. The breeze strengthened, they lost their oars, and started drifting.

“It pretty much all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.

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

“I knew he was the best swimmer and he could do it,” she stated.

The Successful Mission

The teenager recalled being “completely out of breath”.

“I just keep swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke,” he explained.

The emergency call was made at about 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first began, the stranded individuals were found and brought to safety. They had floated about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The recording was made public with the parents' permission.

A forward commander who coordinated the operation said the group was in an “desperately dangerous position”.

“They were in serious jeopardy, and time was absolutely critical 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 fortitude and resolve in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a successful outcome.”

The commander also commended how the teenager clearly relayed vital details.

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

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