A 13-yr-old boy has been praised for saving the lives of his mother and two younger siblings after completing a four-hour swim to shore when the family was swept out to sea off Australia’s coastline, reports Breaking News.
Austin Appelbee swam 4km (2.5 miles) to reach land and raise the alarm after getting into difficulty on Friday with his mother Joanne Appelbee, 47, his brother Beau, 12, and his sister Grace, eight, police said, reports Breaking News.
Austin said he initially tried to seek help using an inflatable kayak, but it began taking on water. He then abandoned the kayak and removed his life jacket as it was restricting his ability to swim.
He said he concentrated on staying positive while swimming for around four hours through rough seas before reaching shore and alerting authorities at 6pm, reports Breaking News.
“The waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming’,” Austin said on Tuesday. “And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed,” reports Breaking News.
The family, who are from the state capital Perth, were on holiday and had been using kayaks and paddle boards hired from their hotel at around midday when worsening ocean and wind conditions began pulling them further out to sea.
A search helicopter located the mother and two children at 8.30pm, police said. They were wearing life jackets and holding onto a paddleboard after drifting 14km (9 miles) from Quindalup in Western Australia, having spent up to 10 hours in the water, reports Breaking News.
“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, reports Breaking News.
Ms Appelbee told reporters on Tuesday that she sent her eldest child to seek help because she could not leave the three younger 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, reports Breaking News.
She said she believed he would make it to shore but began to fear the worst as night fell and help had still 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, reports Breaking News.
Ms Appelbee said all three children were shivering by the time they were rescued, and Beau had lost feeling in his legs due to the cold.
“I have three babies. All three made it. That was all that mattered,” she said, reports Breaking News.
All four family members were medically checked following the incident, but none needed to be admitted to hospital, reports Breaking News.
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