Australian authorities have released a recording of the emergency call made by heroic teen Austin Appelby after he swam for hours in rough seas to seek help from his family.
In a recording released by Western Australia Police on Wednesday, 13-year-old Austin can be heard calmly explaining the situation and requesting a helicopter to search for his mother and two siblings.
The family was paddleboarding and kayaking off the coast of Quindalup, Western Australia, on January 30th when they were swept out to sea.
Austin swam 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to shore and then ran along the beach to reach a phone and call for help.
“Hello, my name is Austin…I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 years old and Grace is 8 years old,” he said.
“We were taken to the ocean and we got lost there,” Austin added.
“I don’t know what time it was, but it was a long time ago,” he said. “We couldn’t get back to shore, so my mother told me to go back to get help.”
“I think they’re miles offshore. I think we’ll need a helicopter to go look for them,” Austin said. “It’s really scary because I don’t know what condition they are in right now.”
Austin headed to the shore in his kayak, but when the water started coming in, he had to abandon it and swim back. Once we got to the beach, we had to run two kilometers to get to the phone.
The boy was prepared to call for an ambulance himself.
“I’m sitting on the beach right now. I think I have hypothermia, so I think I need an ambulance. I also have to explain,” he said.
“I’m so tired. I’m getting heat stroke and feel like I’m about to pass out.”
Austin’s brother and sister were found clinging to their paddleboards and were eventually rescued along with their mother Joanne, 47.
In an interview with CNN affiliate 9News earlier this month, Austin said it was thinking about his family that kept him going.
“I just said, ‘Okay. Not today, not today, not today,'” he said. “I had to keep going.”
Western Australia Police praised Austin’s actions in a statement on Wednesday.
“Austin’s ability to think clearly under pressure demonstrates the type of calmness that greatly assists first responders in emergencies.”
Acting frontline police commander Sergeant Andrew McDonnell said Mr Austin had saved the family from an “extremely dire” situation.
“They were in real trouble and given the amount of time they had been in the water and the fact that daylight was setting, time was of the essence,” he said in a statement.
“What Austin did was just extraordinary,” McDonnell added. “His courage and bravery under those circumstances was remarkable, and his actions were critical to achieving success.”
