Andrew Ritchie / The West Australian
Beau, Joanne, Grace and Austin Appelbee, the young hero
A 13-year-old boy saved the lives of his mother and two younger brothers, who had been swept into the sea off the Australian coast. The young man swam to the coast for several hours to alert the authorities.
“It was a superhuman effort“, the commander of the Naturaliste Marine Rescue rescue team told the Australian television network, Paul Bresland.
The young man Austin Appelbeeaged 13, swam 4 kilometers to the coast of Quindalup, in southwestern Australia, to give the alertafter getting into trouble with his mother, Joanne Appelbee, 47, his brother Beau, 12, and his sister Grace, 8, police said.
“He swam, he reckons, the first two hours with the vest lifeguard with his lifeguard on”, detailed Bresland. “The brave kid didn’t think he was going to make it with his vest on, so got rid of it and swam for the next two hours without a vest”
Austin said he initially went looking for help in a kayak inflatable that it was filling with water. He abandoned the kayak and jumped into the water, ending up taking off his life jacket because it “made swimming difficult“.
The young man says tried to focus on positive thoughts while swimming during about four hoursthrough rough seas, to the coast, having given the alert at 6 pm.
“The waves were huge and I didn’t have a vest lifeguard dressed. I kept thinking ‘keep swimming, keep swimming’. And then finally I reached the shore and I touched the bottom of the beach and just collapsed“, Austin told . “I didn’t think I was a hero, I just did what I did.”
Austin’s family, originally from Perth, the capital of the state of Western Australia, was on vacation and used kayaks and paddle boards rented at the hotel around noon on Friday, when the rough ocean conditions and the wind began to carry them out to sea.
After the alert given by the young hero, at around 8:30 pm a search helicopterfound the mother and two children with life jackets on and clinging to a paddle board, police said. The family had been dragged 14 kilometers from Quindalup, and passed 10 hours in the water.
“There’s not enough praise for Austin shares. Ultimately, your determination and courage saved the lives of his mother and brothers“, stated police inspector James Bradley in a .
The young man’s mother, Joanne Applebeeexplained this Tuesday to journalists that sent his eldest son for help instead of going herself, because I couldn’t abandon my three children.
“One of the hardest decisions What I ever had to do was say to Austin: ‘Try to get to shore and get help. This can become very serious very quickly‘”, says Joanne. “I was confident that he would reach the coast, but I was full of doubts when the sun went down and help had not arrived.
“We stayed positive, we were singing and joking and we were dealing with that like some kind of game until the sun started to set, and that’s when it got really busy. Very big waves,” he said.
According to Paul Bresland, the family held water in rough seas for hours, because the mother managed to keep the other children close to the paddle board. “Physically, she was having a hard time, but she just kept going and kept them together“, Bresland told ABC.
By the time they were rescued, the three were all shaking and Beau had lost sensation in the legs due to the cold. The four family members were medically evaluated, but none required hospital admission.
“I have three children. The three made it. That’s all that mattered“, stated Joanne.
