We Must Have a Aircraft to Go Find Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Rescue Relatives Stranded Off Aussie Coast Unveiled

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee explains to the emergency operator, following a swim 2.5 miles in rough, the sea and running two kilometres to secure help for his family.

The operator inquires how long has passed since he started out.

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

Emergency services have made public the distress call made previously after the youth departed from his family adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to fetch help.

His voice remains clear and calm, even as he details his worry for his family members.

“I am unsure of what their status is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the dispatcher.

“Mum said go get help … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The family group had been swept four kilometres out to sea in stormy conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum instructed him to use his craft and locate rescue, so the youth set off, abandoning first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to swim the distance.

After reaching land – after an extensive period – he raced for two kilometres to access a mobile phone.

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

“I’m located 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 pass out.”

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The family was on a break in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They began their trip from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The mother later described that they were having fun when the young ones “drifted further than intended”. 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 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 could do it,” she said.

The Successful Mission

The youth explained being “extremely winded”.

“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do a floating stroke,” he explained.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, many hours after they first set out, the group were spotted and rescued. They had floated about 9 miles out to sea.

The emergency call was released with the parents' permission.

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

“They were in real trouble, and time was extremely pressing given how long they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the teenager did was truly remarkable. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a positive result.”

The commander also highlighted how the teenager effectively communicated key facts.

When asked to identify the paddleboards for the search crew, the boy said: “They were a green and white colour.”

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