A 13-year-old boy recounted on Tuesday how he swam for four hours through choppy waters off Western Australia to get help for his family in a feat hailed by rescuers as “superhuman”.
The boy, named in local media as Austin Appelbee, made it across four kilometres (2.5 miles) of ocean to raise the alarm after his mother and two younger siblings were swept out to sea.
He had gone out kayaking and paddle-boarding on the water Friday afternoon with his family.
But the waves soon grew, flipping their boards and filling their kayak with water as they were dragged further out into the ocean.
“I was really scared,” the young teen told reporters.
“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,” he said.
“I just said: ‘Alright, not today, not today, not today. I have to keep on going’.”
The youngster said he started heading for shore with just his life jacket but later abandoned it to swim unencumbered.
“I was very puffed out, but I couldn’t feel how tired I was.”
The boy said he was trying 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.”
– ‘Brave fella’ –
When he reached the beach, the teen said he called emergency services and asked them to deploy boats, helicopters and planes, telling them: “My family is out at sea.”
Marine rescue volunteer Paul Bresland said the teen’s four-hour swim saved his family, who were eventually found clinging to a paddleboard in the open ocean off the tourist town of Quindalup.
“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 the boy’s actions “cannot be praised highly enough”.
“His determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” he told the ABC.
The boy’s mother, named in local media as Joanne, has also been praised for keeping her family alive during hours out at sea with her other son, 12-year-old Beau, and eight-year-old daughter Grace.
“It seemed nice and calm to begin with,” the mother 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’,” the mother was quoted as saying.
“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.”
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