Australian teen swims 2.5 miles for hours to save family swept out to sea

(Colin Rugg) 13-year-old Australian boy swims for four hours in cold and dangerous waters to save his mom and siblings who were swept into the ocean, says God is who got him to shore.

The family was on kayaks & paddleboards when they were swept about 2.5 miles out to sea.

After a conversation with his mother, Austin Appelbee decided he would swim back to shore to find help.

Appelbee says he prayed throughout the four-hour swim and told God he would get baptized if he made it out alive.

"I don't think it was actually me [swimming]... It was God the whole time. I kept on praying, kept on praying. I said to God, 'I'll get baptized.'"

"The waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on… I just kept thinking 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming,'" he said.

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

Appelbee says when he got to shore, he had to sprint for about a mile to find help.

According to AP, the family drifted 9 miles from Quindalup and spent 10 hours in the water.

When he reached the shore, Appelbee alerted authorities, who then sent out a helicopter to find his mom, 12-year-old brother, and 8-year-old sister.

Austin's mother, Joanne Appelbee, said one of the hardest decisions of her life was sending her son to shore.

"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.

What a remarkable kid.

(Fox News) A 13-year-old boy swam for hours through rough ocean waters to save his family after they were swept out to sea off Australia’s coast, a heroic effort police say saved his mother and two younger siblings.

Austin Appelbee recalled ditching his life jacket so it wouldn’t restrict his swimming before he set off alone on a nearly four-hour-long, 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) swim that saw him battle huge waves until he ultimately reached shore and triggered a rescue that saved his mother, Joanne Appelbee, 47, his brother Beau, 12, and his sister Grace, 8, police said. ---More...