Ammon News - A 13-year-old boy is credited with saving the lives of his mother and two younger siblings with an hourslong swim after the family was swept out to sea off the coast of Australia.

Austin Appelbee swam 2.5 miles to shore to raise the alarm after he got into difficulties on Friday with his mother Joanne Appelbee, 47, brother Beau, 12, and sister Grace, 8, police said.

Austin said he initially set off for help on an inflatable kayak that was taking water. He abandoned the kayak then took off his life jacket because it impeded his swimming.

He said he tried to focus on positive thoughts as he swam for around four hours through rough seas for shore, raising the alarm at 6 p.m.

“The waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. — I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’” Austin said on Tuesday. “And then I finally I made it to shore and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.”

The family, from the state capital Perth, were on vacation and were using kayaks and paddle boards hired from their hotel around noon when rough ocean and wind conditions started dragging them out to sea.

A search helicopter found the mom and two children wearing life jackets and clinging to a paddleboard at 8:30 p.m., police said. They had drifted 9 miles from Quindalup in Western Australia state, after spending up to 10 hours in the water.

AP