Austin Applebee, the young hero.ABC / still
Joanne Appelbee and her three children had gone kayaking and paddle-boarding off Western Australia when difficulty struck, and they were taken out to sea by the current.
The dangerous job was left to the eldest child, Austin, 13, who was tasked with swimming back to try and get help for his mum and younger siblings.
The youngster swam around 4km back to shore, and then ran a further 2km to get access to a phone, where he called for help.
Speaking on RTÉ One’s Six One on Tuesday, Monaghan native Joanne detailed how they were "dragged out very quickly", and she came to the "hard decision" to ask her eldest to raise the alarm.
A Co Monaghan grandmother has spoken of her joy and relief after her daughter and three grandchildren survived a ten-hour ordeal in choppy waters off western Australia last week https://t.co/jpDM2klaSs
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 4, 2026
She said, "It was nothing short of a miracle that we made it. We had no food, no water, we were in plenty of water, but we couldn’t drink that."
She added that they fell into the water "many times."
The Carrickmacross native added that her children, 12-year-old Beau and eight-year-old Grace, "just kept holding on."
Fortunately, Austin managed to get to shore and raise the alarm, with the youngster telling ABC that he tried to keep negative thoughts out of his head when he was swimming for help.
He said: "I think at one point I was thinking of 'Thomas the Tank Engine', trying to get the happiest things in my head… not the bad things that’ll distract me… at this time, the waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on.
"Anyway, I just keep swimming."
Check out this short CNA boardcast on the story:
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.