A 13-year-old Western Australian boy has been hailed a hero after swimming for four hours through cold and dangerous waters to get help when his family was swept out to sea while kayaking and paddleboarding.

Austin Appelbee and his family were on the water near Quindalup when conditions pushed them approximately four kilometres offshore. As the situation worsened, Austin’s mother, Joanne Appelbee, made the difficult decision to send her son toward shore to raise the alarm.

After speaking with his mother, Austin began the long swim without a life jacket, battling heavy swells and fatigue.

“I don’t think it was actually me swimming,” Austin said afterward. “It was God the whole time. I kept on praying, kept on praying. I said to God, ‘I’ll get baptized.’”

He described the conditions as severe. “The waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on… I just kept thinking, ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming.’”

Austin said that when he finally reached land, he collapsed from exhaustion before getting up to search for help.

He said he was unable to get any assistance from people at the beach, claiming there were a lot of foreigners and they could not assist, which forced him to run a further two kilometres until he found a way to call for help.

According to Associated Press reporting, the family drifted about 14.5 kilometres from Quindalup and spent around 10 hours in the water in total.

After Austin alerted emergency services, a rescue helicopter was dispatched to locate his mother and his two siblings, aged 12 and 8. All were later safely recovered.

Joanne Appelbee said sending her son to shore was one of the most difficult decisions she has ever made.

“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 said.

Authorities credited the boy’s resolve and quick thinking with helping bring about a successful rescue.

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