PERTH, Western Australia: A 13-year-old boy swam for four hours to get help off the coast of Western Australia in cold and choppy waters to save his mother and two younger siblings who were swept out to sea.

The family from Perth went kayaking and paddleboarding late last week, when strong winds and rough seas began to pull them farther out into the ocean. Police said Austin Appelbee swam about two and a half miles to the shore to get help.

Austin later said the waves were huge, and he did not have a life jacket while swimming. He kept telling himself to keep going until he finally reached land and collapsed on the beach.

He explained that he first used an inflatable kayak and wore a life jacket, but the kayak began to fill with water because the sea was so rough, so he left it behind. He also removed the life jacket because it made swimming harder. He tried to stay positive while swimming.

The family began their trip before noon. Austin reached the shore and raised the alarm around 6 p.m. A helicopter later found his mother, Joanne, 47, his 12-year-old brother, Beau, and his eight-year-old sister, Grace, at about 8:30 p.m. They had drifted around nine miles from Quindalup in Western Australia and had been in the water for about 10 hours.

Police Inspector James Bradley said the 13-year-old boy showed great courage and determination, and his actions saved his mother and siblings.

Joanne Appelbee said she asked Austin to swim for help because she could not leave all her children alone in the ocean. She said it was one of the most complex decisions she had ever made.

At first, she felt confident he would reach shore, but as the sun began to set and no help arrived, she became worried. She said the family tried to stay cheerful by singing and joking, treating it like a game until evening, when the waves grew larger, and the sea became rougher.

When rescuers finally reached them, all three were shaking from the cold, and Beau could not feel his legs. Joanne said the only thing that mattered to her was that all three of her children survived.

The amazing story follows a second miraculous rescue that occurred just 3 weeks earlier, again off the West Australian coast.

In a rescue described as "unprecedented" by local authorities, a young Perth man survived an hour in treacherous ocean conditions after being swept off rocks at Salmon Beach near Esperance—a location where no one has been recovered alive in 30 years of coastal rescue history.

Jack O'Brien, who had driven from Perth with his girlfriend Brodie for a holiday, was sitting well back from the shoreline when a rogue wave struck from behind. The force dragged him approximately 90 metres across rocks and held him underwater for three minutes.

"It felt like being inside a washing machine," O'Brien told Big News Network. Knowing that most victims die trying to swim back to the rocks, he made a conscious, surreal decision to swim further out to sea. "I knew there was a strong chance I would die," he said.

With four-metre swells, a reported shark sighting the previous day, and blood in the water from his injuries, O'Brien entered a focused survival state. "I repeated: conserve energy, stay afloat, move with the rip, breathe deeply, stay calm." He survived for an hour as around 40 people watched from shore.

His girlfriend, Brodie, who was narrowly behind him when the wave hit, was able to call emergency services with a single bar of reception, initiating the rescue. A lifesaver eventually located O'Brien and guided him through a final 40-metre fight against the rip to reach a rescue board.

"My fitness and long-distance running kept me afloat long enough to notice something yellow between wave sets. At first, I thought it was debris. Then I heard a human voice. It was an experienced lifesaver who had come from the other side," O'Brien said. "He was about 40 metres away, and I had almost nothing left."

"The wind shifted, and the rip began pulling us back toward the rocks. He couldn't come to me — it was too dangerous — though he later admitted he was about to break that rule. He told me I had to reach him. My final effort was a 40-metre freestyle swim against wind, waves, and rip. Reaching his board and holding onto something solid was overwhelming."

"We then struggled together as the rip pulled us both toward the rocks," O'Brien said.

"Getting onto the boat was another fight — the swell was so heavy the vessel nearly capsized."

The captain of the coastal rescue boat, a 30-year veteran, later admitted he had refused to bring young crew members that morning, believing they would only recover a body. He had never before rescued a living person from these rocks. The boat reached the pair in 10 minutes; the captain estimated they had only a five-minute safety margin.

Suffering severe hypothermia and extensive cuts and bruises, O'Brien was rushed by ambulance to Esperance Hospital. The rescue crew later visited him in hospital, having missed a funeral to do so, stunned by his survival.

"No one has ever survived being taken off these rocks," O'Brien said. "It has shown me a strength I didn't know I had. The person who left Perth for that holiday," he added, "is not the same person who returned.".