A Western Australian family says they are grateful to be alive after a teenager saved his mother and two younger siblings by swimming for four hours after they were swept out to sea.
Austin Appelbee swam four kilometers to shore to raise the alarm after getting into trouble Friday with his mother Joanne Appelbee, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, eight, police said.
Austin said he initially went looking for help on an inflatable kayak that was taking on water. He abandoned the kayak and took off his life jacket as it hindered his swimming.
‘Just keep swimming’
He said he tried to focus on positive thoughts as he swam toward shore through rough seas for about four hours.
“The waves are huge and I don’t have a life jacket on… I kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’” Austin said Tuesday.
“And then I finally reached the shore and hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”
The Perth family was on holiday and using kayaks and paddleboards they had rented from their hotel around midday when rough ocean and wind conditions began to drag them out to sea.
A search helicopter found the mother and two children wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at 8:30 p.m. local time, police said. They had drifted 9 miles from Quindalup.
“The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised enough; his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” said Police Inspector James Bradley.
‘One of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make’
Joanne Appelbee told reporters that she sent her eldest child for help because she could not leave the three children behind.
“One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was telling Austin, ‘Try to get on land and get help. This could get very serious very quickly,'” she told the ABC.
She said she was confident he would reach shore, but was filled with doubt when the sun set and no help had arrived.
“We stayed positive, we sang and joked and… we treated it like a game until the sun went down, and then it got really choppy. Real big waves,” she said.
The three were all shivering and Beau had lost feeling in his legs due to the cold by the time they were rescued, she said.
‘I have three babies. All three made it. That was all that mattered,” she said.
All four family members were medically assessed, but none required hospitalization.
For the latest news from SBS News, download our app And subscribe to our newsletter.
#swimming #Heroic #teen #swam #hours #save #family #swept #sea