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

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee explains to the triple-zero dispatcher, following a swim four kilometres in rough, open water and running 1.25 miles to secure help for his household.

The dispatcher questions how much time has passed since he started out.

“[It] was quite some time back … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we require a chopper to search for them,” he reports.

Emergency services have made public the recorded plea made previously after the youth departed from his relatives adrift at sea off the Western Australian coast to seek assistance.

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

“I have no idea about what their condition is right now, and I’m really scared,” he confides in the operator.

“Mum said to find rescue … We were in massive trouble.”

The Dangerous Incident

The mother and children had been pulled 4km out to sea in treacherous conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mother urged him to take his kayak and find help, so the youth commenced, discarding first his failing kayak then his bulky flotation device to swim the distance.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he ran for 1.25 miles to access a cell phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have a brother and sister, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he explains the emergency services.

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

A Vacation Gone Wrong

The holidaymakers was on holiday in Quindalup, 200km south of Perth. They set off from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The parent later described that they were enjoying themselves 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 said.

The parent also described 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 described being “very puffed out”.

“I just pressed on, I do the breaststroke, I do front crawl, I do survival backstroke,” he explained.

The emergency call was made at about 6pm.

At roughly 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first began, the group were located and saved. They had floated about fourteen kilometres out to sea.

The emergency call was made public with the family’s permission.

A forward commander who oversaw the rescue mission said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

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

“What the teenager did was incredibly brave. His fortitude and resolve in those conditions were astonishing, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

The sergeant also praised how the youth clearly relayed critical information.

When asked to describe the boards for the authorities, the teenager responded: “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 fish hooked. Because we hooked one.”