Updated on: February 3, 2026 / 8:20 PM EST / CBS/AP
A 13-year-old boy is credited with saving the lives of his mother and two younger siblings after the family was swept out to sea off the Australian coast.
Austin Appelbee swam about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to shore to raise the alarm after he, his mother Joanne Appelbee, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, 8, got into trouble Friday, police said.
“I think, at one point, I was thinking of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine,’ you know, trying to get the happiest things in my head, trying to make it through, like, not the bad things that’ll distract me,” Austin said Tuesday.
Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Austin’s efforts were “superhuman.” “He swam in, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on,” Bresland said. “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.”
Austin said he initially set off for help on an inflatable kayak that began taking on water. He abandoned the kayak, removed his life jacket because it impeded his swimming, and then swam for around four hours through rough seas before reaching shore and raising the alarm at about 6 p.m.
“The waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. … I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming,'” Austin said. “And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”
Austin told the BBC he did not think of himself as a hero. “I just did what I did,” he said.
The family, from Perth, was on vacation and had hired kayaks and paddle boards from their hotel around noon when wind and rough ocean conditions began dragging them out to sea. A search helicopter found the mother and two children wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at about 8:30 p.m., police said. They had drifted roughly 14 kilometers (9 miles) from Quindalup in Western Australia after spending up to 10 hours in the water.
“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 in a statement.
Joanne Appelbee told reporters she sent her oldest child for help because she could not leave the three 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 the Australian Broadcasting Corp. She said she was confident he would reach shore but grew fearful as the sun set and help had not arrived. The family said they kept positive by singing and joking until conditions worsened at dusk.
Bresland said the family treading water in rough seas managed to keep the children with the paddleboard. “Physically, she just said, ‘I’m struggling, I can’t,’ but she just said they’re looking her in the eye, and she just kept going and kept them together,” he told the ABC.
By the time rescuers reached them, all three were shivering and Beau had lost sensation in his legs from the cold, the mother said. “We made it, we’re alive, and that’s the most important thing, and I have all three babies,” Joanne said. “…All three of them made it. That was all that mattered.”
All four family members were medically assessed; none required hospital admission.
In a social media post, Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group praised the family, especially Austin. “The bravery, strength, and courage shown by this family were extraordinary, especially the young fella who swam 4km to raise the alarm and set everything into motion,” the group wrote.