THE Irish mother of a 13-year-old boy who swam for four hours to raise the alarm after his family were swept out to sea has opened up on “one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make”.

Austin Appelbee made it across 4km of shark-infested waters after strong winds pushed him and his family’s inflatable paddleboards and kayak offshore at Quindalup, in south-western Australia.

A long wooden pier extends into the ocean from a sandy beach, with a boat docked at the end.
The beach in Quindalup with a view of the ocean where Austin swam for four hours through choppy watersCredit: AFP
 

A woman and three children, two boys and a girl, stand for a photo. The boy on the right uses a crutch.
Austin Appelbee, right, with his brother, Beau, left, his mother, Joanne, second left, and sister GraceCredit: AP
The teenager first tried to paddle back to shore in his kayak to get help after his mum Joanne Appelbee – originally from Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan – decided this was their only chance of survival.

Austin set off alone on the inflatable kayak before eventually abandoning it as it took on water and ditching his lifejacket to commit to an exhausting swim through rough seas.

And mum Joanne has opened up on the difficult decision she was forced to make.

Speaking to RTE News, she said: “It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.

“But with the four of us out there, I had my little daughter Grace, she was only eight and Beau was twelve, Austin of course being 13 and myself, I couldn’t leave them there to go back to shore.

“So I had to ask Austin if he could try and make his way back to raise the alarm.

“I didn’t expect it to turn out the way it did or to be such a long drawn-out process but at the end of the day we’re all here to tell the tale. So that’s the main thing.”

Speaking to the ABC, Austin described “fighting rough seas” while wearing a life jacket.

He said: “After two hours, I removed the life jacket to help me swim more efficiently.

The waves are massive and I have no lifejacket on,” he said. “I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming’.

“I thought I saw something in the water and I was really scared and I was just thinking in my head [that] I was going to make it through.

“And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”

2KM RUN

But, with no help available on the beach, brave Austin got up again and ran around 2km to a phone to get help at around 6pm.

The family had been in the water for around 10 hours when they were eventually rescued.

Joanne and her two young children were more than eight miles from the shore and clinging to the paddleboards in the pitch dark.

The mum praised her two younger children – Beau and Grace – for being “little heroes” throughout the ordeal.

She told RTE: “It was nothing short of a miracle that we made it.

‘FANTASTIC FEELING’

“We had no food, no water, we were in plenty of water but we couldn’t drink that.

“We fell in [to the water] so many times, the waves were so high and those kids just kept holding on.

“We kept singing, we sang about Moana. We were looking for dolphins to see if that could help us back in.

“And when it got dark, that’s when it really hit home, we might not make it.”

The Monaghan mum, who lives in Perth, said that seeing the rescue team was “the most fantastic feeling”.

Western Australia Police Inspector James Bradley praised the teenager and emphasised the importance of ocean safety.

He said: “Thankfully, all three people were wearing life jackets, which contributed to their survival.

“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.”

A young male swimmer wearing a polo shirt with a disability support device on his arm.
Brave Austin has been hailed a ‘superhero’Credit: AP