A family from Western Australia is expressing immense gratitude after a teenage hero emerged within their ranks. A young boy’s courageous actions saved his mother and two siblings from a perilous situation at sea, where they were adrift for hours.
On Friday, Austin Appelbee embarked on an extraordinary 4-kilometer swim to shore to seek help after he, his 47-year-old mother Joanne, 12-year-old brother Beau, and eight-year-old sister Grace encountered trouble in the water, according to local authorities.
Initially attempting to reach the shore using an inflatable kayak, Austin soon realized the vessel was taking on water. To improve his chances of reaching land, he abandoned the kayak and removed his life jacket, which was hindering his progress.
Throughout the grueling four-hour swim through the rough sea, Austin concentrated on maintaining a positive mindset.
“The waves were massive, and I had no life jacket,” Austin recounted on Tuesday. “I just kept repeating to myself, ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming.’”
His perseverance paid off when he finally reached the shore, where exhaustion overcame him, and he collapsed upon touching the beach.
“And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”
The family, from Perth, were on holiday and were using kayaks and paddle boards hired from their hotel around noon when rough ocean and wind conditions started dragging them out to sea.
A search helicopter found the mother and two children wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at 8.30pm local time, police said. They had drifted 14km from Quindalup.
“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,” police inspector James Bradley said.
‘One of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make’
Joanne Appelbee told reporters she sent her oldest child for help because she couldn’t leave the three children.
“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’,” she told the ABC.
She said she was confident he would reach shore, but was filled with doubt as the sun set and help had not arrived.
“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.
The three were all shivering and Beau had lost sensation in his legs because of 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 hospital admission.
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