“We ended up adrift out there,” young Austin Appelbee explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum 2.5 miles in rough, the sea and sprinting 1.25 miles to summon rescue for his household.
The operator asks how long has elapsed since he began.
“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re far offshore. I think we need a rescue aircraft to go find them,” he states.
Emergency services have made public the emergency phone call made last month after the boy left his loved ones floating at sea off the West Australian coast to find rescuers.
His demeanour remains steady and composed, even as he voices his worry for his family.
“I am unsure of what their state is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the dispatcher.
“Mum said go get help … We were in serious danger.”
The family group had been carried 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while using kayaks and paddleboards.
His parent instructed him to take his kayak and find help, so the youth commenced, ditching first his failing kayak then his cumbersome lifejacket to cover the remaining stretch.
After getting to the beach – after an extensive period – he raced for two kilometres to get to a mobile phone.
“Hello, my name is Austin … I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the emergency services.
“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 a dangerously low body temperature … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to collapse.”
The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay around 10am on a Friday in late January.
The woman later explained that they were having fun when the kids “ventured out too far”. The conditions worsened, they lost their oars, and started floating away.
“It sort of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she remarked.
The mother also spoke of having to make “one of the hardest decisions” to send her son to swim to land.
“I knew he was the strongest and he had the ability to succeed,” she commented.
The boy recalled being “extremely winded”.
“I just continued swimming, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he said.
The emergency call was made at approximately 6pm.
At roughly 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first set out, the group were found and brought to safety. They had drifted about 9 miles out to sea.
The audio was made public with the family’s permission.
A forward commander who coordinated the rescue mission said the family was in an “desperately dangerous position”.
“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 teenager did was truly remarkable. His heroic actions in those conditions were remarkable, and his actions were crucial in bringing about a rescue.”
The officer also highlighted how the youth clearly relayed key facts.
When asked to detail the equipment for the rescue team, the teenager responded: “They were coloured green and white.”
“And I’m not sure if it’s still on, but they had this rod, and there was a fish hooked. Since we hooked one.”
