A 13-year-old boy swam for hours through rough seas to raise the alarm after his mother and two younger siblings became stranded off the coast near Quindalup in Western Australia.
Police said Austin Applebee and his family were on holiday in the coastal tourist area south of Perth when they got into trouble on hired kayaks and paddleboards. The inflatable kayak Austin first used began taking on water, so he abandoned it and started swimming toward shore — a distance officers later estimated at about 4 kilometres (roughly 2.5 miles).
Applebee wore a life jacket for about the first two hours but removed it after deciding it was slowing him down. Battling large waves, he kept swimming and reached land, where he ran to his mother’s phone and called police to report that his family was stranded offshore and to describe the equipment they had.
A search helicopter later found Joanne Applebee and her children — Beau, 12, and Grace, 8 — clinging to a paddleboard after drifting roughly 14 kilometres and spending about 10 hours at sea. Police Inspector James Bradley praised Austin’s “determination and courage,” saying his actions ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings.
Austin was taken to a medical facility after collapsing from exhaustion. Medics said his four-hour swim in rough conditions was comparable in effort to running two marathons; he was given crutches while he recovered. On waking, he learned his family had been rescued.
Joanne Applebee told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that asking her eldest to try to reach shore was one of the hardest decisions she had ever made, but she had to remain with the younger children. Western Australia Premier Roger Cook called Austin a “true West Aussie hero” in a social media post.
Authorities continue to stress the dangers of entering open water without suitable experience, equipment and awareness of conditions, and they commended the coordinated response that helped bring the family to safety.