‘We Need a Chopper to Search For Them’: Teenager’s Urgent Plea to Save Loved Ones Lost Off Australian Coast Revealed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee informs the emergency operator, having swum four kilometres in choppy, open ocean and sprinting two kilometres to secure help for his household.

The dispatcher asks how much time has passed since he set off.

“[It] was a very long time ago … I think they’re a long way from land. I think we require a helicopter to go find them,” he says.

Police have made public the emergency phone call made in recent weeks after the youth departed from his loved ones floating at sea off the WA coast to find rescuers.

His tone remains steady and composed, even as he details his worry for his kin.

“I don’t know what their condition is right now, and I’m extremely frightened,” he tells the person on the line.

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

The Dangerous Incident

The family group had been swept 4km out to sea in stormy conditions while kayaking and paddleboarding.

His mother asked him to take his kayak and find help, so the teenager began, ditching first his sinking craft then his unwieldy PFD to cover the remaining stretch.

After reaching land – following a four-hour swim – he ran for 2km to get to a mobile phone.

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

“I’m positioned on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an medical help because I think I have hypothermia … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have heatstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

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

The mother later recalled that they were having fun when the young ones “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started being carried out.

“It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she noted.

The mother also referenced having to make “a terribly difficult call” to instruct her son to swim ashore.

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

The Search Operation

The boy explained being “completely out of breath”.

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

The call for help was made at about 6pm.

At around 8.30pm, many hours after they first set out, the family were spotted and rescued. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

The recording was shared with the family’s permission.

A senior officer who coordinated the rescue mission said the family was in an “incredibly perilous state”.

“They were in real trouble, and time was of the essence given how much time they had been in the water and with light running out.

“What the teenager did was incredibly brave. His bravery and courage in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were pivotal in bringing about a positive result.”

The officer also commended how the youth effectively communicated vital details.

When asked to detail the paddleboards for the search crew, the youth responded: “They were coloured green and white.”

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