A 13-year-old boy is said to have saved the lives of his mother and two siblings by swimming for a long time after the family was washed away at sea off the coast of Australia.
Austin Appelbee swam 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to shore to raise the alarm after getting into trouble Friday with his mother Joanne Appelbee, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, 8, police said.
Naturaliste Marine Rescue manager Paul Bresland told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Austin’s efforts are “superhuman.”
“He swam in, I think for the first two hours he was wearing a jacket,” Bresland said. “And this brave boy thought he couldn’t make it with a life jacket on, so he gave it up, and swam for the next two hours without a life jacket.”
Austin said he started to look for help in an inflatable kayak that was taking on water. He left the kayak and took off his life jacket because it made it difficult for him to swim.
He said he tried to focus on positive thoughts as he swam for about four hours in the rough sea to the shore, and raised the alarm at 6 p.m.
“The waves are big and I don’t have a life jacket on. … I kept thinking ‘keep swimming, keep swimming,'” Austin said Tuesday. “Then I got to the shore and I hit the bottom of the sea and I just fell.”
Briana Shepherd/AP
“I didn’t think I was a hero,” Austin told the BBC. “I did what I did.”
The family, from the state capital Perth, were on holiday and using kayaks and paddleboards rented from their hotel in the middle of the day when rough seas and winds began to pull them out to sea.
A search helicopter found the mother and two children wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at 8:30 p.m., police said. They had traveled 14 kilometers (9 miles) from Quindalup in the state of Western Australia, after spending about 10 hours in the water.
“The actions of a 13-year-old boy cannot be praised enough – his determination and bravery ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” Police Inspector James Bradley said in a statement.
Joanne Appelbee told the media on Tuesday that she sent her oldest child to ask for help because she could not leave three children.
“One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was to say to Austin: ‘Try to get to shore and get help. This could get really difficult quickly,'” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
He said he was hoping to reach the shore, but he had doubts as the sun had set and help had not yet arrived.
“We were always positive, we sang and joked and … we took it as a game until the sun started to set and that’s when it got really rough. Very big waves,” he said.
Bresland, who is the rescue commander, told the ABC that the family was treading water in the rough sea for hours and the mother was able to keep the other children on the paddle board.
“Physically, he just said, ‘I’m struggling, I can’t,’ but he just told them to look him in the eye, and he kept them together,” Bresland told ABC.
The three were shivering and Beau could no longer feel in his legs due to the cold when they were rescued, said the mother.
“I have three children. All three made it. That’s all that mattered,” he said.
All four family members were medically evaluated but none required hospitalization.
ABC/AP 
In a social media post, the Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group praised the family, especially Austin.
“The courage, strength, and courage shown by this family was amazing, especially the young boy who swam 4km to raise the flag and get it all started,” the group wrote on Facebook.
