\u201cI just said \u2018all right, not today, not today, not today\u2019,\u201d the boy told Sky News.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do breastroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed, and then after that I had to sprint 2km to go get to the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The waters are known for their frequent shark sightings, with WA\u2019s SharkSmart website tracking multiple sightings along the south west coast in the past week alone.<\/p>\n
Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland told the ABC the rest of the child\u2019s family \u2013 his 47-year-old mother and brothers, 12 and eight \u2013 were rescued at 8.30pm, clinging to a paddleboard 14km offshore.<\/p>\n
Bresland said the 13-year-old showed \u201csuperhuman\u201d efforts swimming to shore to alert authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe swam in, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on,\u201d he told the broadcaster.<\/p>\n
The multi-agency deployment included the AMSAR SAR aircraft from Perth, RAC Helicopter from Bunbury, two rescue vessels from Marine Rescue Naturaliste and two vessels from Marine Rescue Busselton.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post, Marine Rescue Busselton said it was a \u201cfantastic effort\u201d and great outcome from everyone involved in the \u201cvery trying conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease be mindful of the strong offshore winds that can occur this time of year,\u201d the agency stated in their post.<\/p>\n
South West Police Inspector James Bradley also joined in the praise of the child\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, all three people were wearing life jackets, which contributed to their survival,\u201d he told the ABC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough \u2013 his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI just said \u2018all right, not today, not today, not today\u2019,\u201d the boy told Sky News. \u201cI do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19838,74,1863,7972,42503,1359,3989,2109,48056,42,12811,5338,4505,43,2847,3111,16792,13033,11590,3008,151325,87086,151326,19875,110848,17933,5163,4054,210,61,40,38,41,39,2987,25535,3608],"class_list":["post-265133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-19838","tag-after","tag-back","tag-beach","tag-collapsed","tag-described","tag-effort","tag-family","tag-harrowing","tag-headlines","tag-hero","tag-makes","tag-moment","tag-news","tag-only","tag-out","tag-phone","tag-praised","tag-save","tag-sea","tag-sharkfrequented","tag-sprint","tag-superhuman","tag-swept","tag-swim","tag-swimming","tag-teen","tag-teenager","tag-through","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wa","tag-waters","tag-were"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}