A 13-year-old boy has been hailed as a hero for saving his family after they were swept out to sea off Australia’s south-west coast, swimming for four hours to get help.
Austin Appelbee swam 4km (2.5miles) to shore after he got into difficulties with his mother, Joanne Appelbee, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, 8, police said.
The boy and his family had been using inflatable paddle boards and a kayak at Geographe Bay on Friday when strong winds pushed them offshore.
Police said the teenager initially tried to paddle back to land in his kayak, but it began taking on water. He then abandoned the vessel, took off his life jacket, and swam the remaining distance to shore, eventually reaching land and alerting authorities.
Austin said he tried to focus on positive thoughts as he swam for around four hours in rough seas, raising the alarm at 6pm.
“The waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. I just kept thinking 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming’,” Austin said on Tuesday. “And then I finally made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”
Ms Appelbee told reporters on Tuesday she sent her oldest child for help because she could not leave the three children.
“One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was to say to Austin: 'Try and get to shore and get some help. This could get really serious really quickly’,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Ms Appelbee said she was initially confident he would reach the shore but began to be filled with doubt as the sun set and help did not arrive.
“We kept positive, we were singing and we were joking and – we were treating it as a bit of a game until the sun started to go down and that's when it was getting very choppy. Very big waves,” she said.
Austin’s actions triggered a large search-and-rescue operation involving Western Australia Water Police, volunteer marine rescue crews, and the state’s rescue helicopter.
The Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group – an organisation that provides emergency maritime response, including search and rescue – praised the boy’s endurance. “The bravery, strength and courage shown by this family were extraordinary, especially the young fella who swam 4km to raise the alarm,” it said.
The bay lies near the small coastal community of Quindalup, about 250km south of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia.
The group’s commander, Paul Bresland, described the effort as “superhuman”.
Speaking to ABC, he said: “He swam in, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on. The brave fella thought he's not going to make it with a life jacket on, so he ditched it, and he swam the next two hours without a life jacket.”
The boy also provided rescuers with a detailed description of the colour of the kayak and paddleboards, which Mr Bresland said was crucial to the search. “Within an hour, we found the kayak,” he said.
At about 8.30pm, the rescue helicopter located the boy’s family clinging to a paddle board roughly 14km offshore from Quindalup in Western Australia state. They were rescued after spending up to 10 hours in the water. A volunteer marine rescue vessel was sent to their position and all three were brought safely back to shore.
The family, from the state capital Perth, were on vacation and were using kayaks and paddle boards hired from their hotel, around noon, when rough ocean and wind conditions started dragging them out to sea.
Police said the trio had been in the water for several hours in difficult conditions.
“The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough – his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” police inspector James Bradley said.
Mr Bresland said the mother had managed to keep the children together despite exhaustion.
“Physically, she just said, ‘I'm struggling, I can't,’ but she just said they're looking her in the eye, and she just kept going and kept them together,” he said, reported ABC News.
The three were shivering, and Beau had lost sensation in his legs because of the cold, by the time they were rescued, the mother said.
”I have three babies. All three made it. That was all that mattered,” she said.
Mr Bradley said the incident showed how quickly conditions at sea could change.
“Thankfully, all three people were wearing life jackets, which contributed to their survival,” he said, reported The Guardian. “The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough – his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings.”
The family were assessed by St John WA paramedics and taken to Busselton Health Campus for checks. They were later discharged and returned to thank the marine rescue volunteers involved, according to the ABC.
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