Austin Appleby’s call helps save family after sea ordeal (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Mum is out there with kids as well, is that right?

[00:00:02] Speaker 2: Yeah. And I don't know what their condition is right now, and I'm really scared.

[00:00:07] Speaker 1: That is the newly released emergency call made by 13-year-old Austin Appleby after the teen had just swum four kilometres, or 2.5 miles, in rough seas off the coast of Quindalup in Western Australia.

[00:00:19] Speaker 2: My name's Austin and I'm outside the beach. I have two siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight. We went out on a kayak trip and a paddleboard trip and we got out to sea and we got lost out there. I think they're kilometres out in sea. I think we need a helicopter to go find them.

[00:00:44] Speaker 1: When conditions deteriorated, Austin's mother made the difficult decision to send her son off alone for help. Hours after leaving his family and running an additional two kilometres back to the hotel, Austin was able to retrieve his mother's phone and made the life-saving call.

[00:00:59] Speaker 2: I'm sitting on the beach right now and I also explained, I think I need an ambulance because I think I have hypothermia.

[00:01:06] Speaker 1: Thanks to his efforts, Austin's family were rescued after more than eight hours of clinging to a paddleboard. There's no bigger word to describe him other than proud. Like I can't, I'm speechless at his efforts. But at the same time, I knew he could do it.