A 13-year-old boy is getting praise after swimming for hours to save the lives of his mother and two siblings who were swept out to sea in Western Australia.
Austin Appelbee and his family were vacationing in the town of Quindalup, situated on Geographe Bay, about 250 km south of Perth, on Friday when strong winds blew the inflatable paddleboards and kayak they were riding offshore, Western Australia police said in a statement .
Austin tried to paddle to shore in the kayak before it took in water. That’s when he abandoned the kayak, removed his life jacket, and swam 4 km back to the beach to raise the alarm to alert authorities that his mother, Joanne, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, 8, were stranded.
The swim took him about four hours.
Waves were ‘massive’
In an interview with the Associated Press , Austin said he took off his life jacket because it impeded his swimming. He said he tried to focus on positive thoughts as he swam for hours looking for the shore.
“The waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. … I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming,”’ the teen said . “And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”
Originally from Perth, the Applebee family had rented kayaks and paddleboards from their hotel around noon when rough water and wind conditions dragged them out to sea.
Austin reached the shore and alerted authorities around 6 p.m. A search helicopter found his family wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at 8:30 p.m., authorities said. They had drifted 14 km out from Quindalup, spending up to 10 hours in the water.
Swim was ‘superhuman’
The Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group aided authorities in the rescue of the Applebee family. Once Austin reached the shore, a group comprised of Western Australia Water Police, local volunteers and a helicopter launched the rescue effort.
Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland praised Austin, telling theAustralian Broadcasting Corporationthat the boy’s heroic swim through choppy waters was “superhuman.”
“ He swam in, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on,” Bresland said. “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.”
Police Inspector James Bradley said 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,” said Bradley.
What his mom said to him
Joanne Appelbee told local media she sent Austin out for help because she couldn’t 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 Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The mother said she was confident he would reach shore but was filled with doubt as the sunset set and had yet to 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.
Joanne said she and her children were shivering and Beau had lost sensation in his leg due to the cold water.
“I have three babies. All three made it. That was all that mattered,” she said.
The family was medically assessed but didn’t require a hospital visit.
