SYDNEY, Australia – A 13-year-old Australian boy swam for four hours through choppy waters off western Australia to get help for his family after they were swept out to sea, in what rescuers have described as a “superhuman” effort.
Austin Appelbee made it across 4km of ocean to raise the alarm after his mother and two younger siblings were dragged away from shore whilst kayaking and paddle-boarding last Friday afternoon.
The teenager reached the beach and called emergency services, telling them: “My family is out at sea.” His mother Joanne and siblings Beau, 12, and Grace, eight, were later found clinging to a paddleboard in the open ocean off the tourist town of Quindalup.
“I was really scared,” Austin told reporters on Tuesday. “I was just thinking in my head, like thinking I was going to make it through. But I was also thinking about all my friends at school, and friends at my Christian youth.”
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The family had gone out on the water on Friday afternoon, but the waves soon grew, flipping their boards and filling their kayak with water as they were pulled further out to sea.
Austin started heading for shore with his life jacket but later abandoned it to swim unencumbered. “I was very puffed out, but I couldn’t feel how tired I was,” he said.
The teenager said he tried to think of happy things, at one point singing the “Thomas the Tank Engine” theme song. “At this time, you know, the waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on. So anyway, I just keep swimming. I do breaststroke. I do freestyle. Survival backstroke.”
Marine rescue volunteer Paul Bresland said the teen’s four-hour swim saved his family. “He swam, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on,” Bresland told national broadcaster ABC. “And 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.”
“I thought, mate, that is incredible,” said Bresland, describing the boy’s efforts as “superhuman”.
Police inspector James Bradley said Austin’s actions “cannot be praised highly enough”. “His determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” he told the ABC.
Joanne has also been praised for keeping her family alive during hours at sea. “It seemed nice and calm to begin with,” she told reporters. “One of the hardest decisions I’ve 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’.”
“As the sun went down I thought: ‘Something’s gone terribly wrong here’, and my fear was that Austin didn’t make it,” she said. “Everything goes through your head.”
