Ugly comments have surfaced following a hero teen’s remark about his brave four-kilometre swim to shore after he and his family were swept out to sea.
A remark from a brave boy who swam through four kilometres of shark-frequented waters to get help after being swept out to sea with his family has received some ugly commentary.
Joanne Appelbee and her three young kids were holidaying at a beach near Quindalup, 250 kilometres south of Perth in Western Australia, and decided to hire a kayak and two inflatable paddleboards for a final paddle on what appeared to be calm waters on Friday.
But the conditions turned rough while they were out, pushing the family out to sea. At least one paddle board flipped and two oars were lost in the chaos.
Austin Appelbee, the eldest child, was urged by his desperate mother to try to make it to shore to raise the alarm. It took the 13-year-old four hours to swim back to the sand.
Speaking to media, the Year 9 student explained how he also had to run two kilometres back to the hotel to find a phone to call emergency services.
“There was a lot of foreign people on the beach, so I couldn’t really get much help,” he said.
The comment was shared on social media, which received some ugly responses.
“Even if they could understand, would they have cared?” one user wrote.
“And we all know why these foreigners were not help because they aren’t expected or obliged to learn English,” another added.
“Deport them all. If they can’t even assist a child, they don’t belong here. Deport with prejudice,” a comment read.
“You are in real trouble if you don’t fight this hostile invasion,” another responder said.
Others chimed in, arguing the south west coast of Western Australia is popular with overseas tourists, particularly at this time of the year.
While some said the focus should be on the boy’s heroic efforts.
“It’s quite disturbing to me that after viewing this video with this wonderful heroic story, the replies are full of folks who are laser-focused on the ‘foreigners on the beach’ rather than focusing on this kid’s amazing spirit & faith. We’re f***ing cooked,” one commenter wrote.
“Geez. It’s summertime in Australia on the beach. I would love to be a ‘foreigner’ there right now. How about focus on the young hero,” a second user added.
The teen hero also recalled how two “nice ladies on the beach” offered him some food after he called triple-0, but he “passed out”.
‘Superhuman’
Austin has been praised by rescuers, his family and strangers for his heroic swim in waters where sharks were detected late last month.
While her 12-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter clung on for their lives, Ms Appelbee believed there was only one person who could save them – her eldest son.
“One of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make was to say to Austin, ‘try and get to shore to get some help’, because it was getting serious really quickly,” she recalled.
The 13-year-old, who previously struggled to swim 350 metres as revealed by his younger brother, made his way to the shore on his kayak.
But two hours into the journey, the vessel took on water from huge waves. He decided to ditch it and his lifejacket, two items that were slowing his progress.
Austin switched between survival backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
He kept happy thoughts in his mind which included his girlfriend, his friends and British book turned TV series, Thomas the Tank Engine.
After arriving back on the sand near Toby’s Inlet, his legs collapsed from exhaustion.
But he kept going, running back to the hotel where they were staying, and used his mum’s phone to call triple-0 about 6pm.
“I said, ‘I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats, my family’s out at sea’,” he told 7News.
Emergency services launched a multi-agency search involving WA Water Police, local marine rescue volunteers and WA’s Rescue Helicopter.
Austin said he remained calm but could only think the worst had happened.
“In that meantime when I didn’t know where they were and how they were and I thought they were dead, I had a lot of guilt on my heart cause, you know, I thought, ‘oh man, I wasn’t fast enough, I wasn’t fast enough’,” he recalled.
His family, who were all wearing life jackets, had been in the water between eight to 10 hours and feared no one was coming as daylight faded.
“We kept positive, we were singing, and we were joking and … we were treating it as a bit of a game until the sun started to go down, and that’s when it was getting very choppy [with] very big waves,” Ms Appelbee said.
“As the sun went down, I thought something’s gone terribly wrong here and my fear was that [Austin] didn’t make it.
“Then, as it got darker, yeah, I thought there was no one coming to save us. We were cold, we were shaking, and Beau had lost feeling in his legs.”
She then became separated from her two kids after a rough wave suddenly knocked them off their paddleboard. But five minutes later, a rescue boat spotted them.
The trio were transported to Busselton Health Campus, where Austin had been taken after he “passed out” from exhaustion, which was likened to two marathons.
He woke up and was told of the good news, initially believing it was “fake”.
Police have praised Austin, describing his heroics as “superhuman”, while WA Premier Roger Cook said the teen is a “true hero”.
“Austin’s bravery is beyond his years, showing remarkable courage, resilience and determination in the face of real danger,” he wrote.
“Well done, Austin — we’re so proud of what you’ve done.”
CRE: https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/ugly-reaction-to-teen-swim-heros-comment/news-story/79cdae022a9ef3833e403d18e350d8a4