Three teenagers have been rescued from a remote stretch of Western Australia’s Mid West coast after a distress message written in the sand was spotted by two pilots flying overhead.

The group became bogged on Saturday in the Hutt Lagoon and Pink Lake area, south of Kalbarri, and wrote “help” in the sand in desperation.  

According to WA Police, they did not have any four-wheel-drive recovery equipment or a personal locater beacon.

A pilot flying overhead spotted the message and notified authorities, with officers from Kalbarri Police and the Mid West-Gascoyne Traffic Unit deployed to the area.  

About half an hour after the initial report, a second report was received after a person on board another plane spotted the distress message. 

Stranded for six hours

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority had its Perth-based jet fly over the area and provide GPS coordinates to police on the ground.

The officers drove as close to the area as they could before the incoming tide and rough terrain forced them to proceed on foot.

They located the uninjured group next to the bogged vehicle and established they had been there for six hours. 

The stranded trio were driven to Lucky Bay, where they were reunited with family and friends.

The car was left in the location for recovery at a later time.

It is not the first time a distress message written in sand has led to a successful rescue.  

Last year, a man and a young boy were rescued from a remote beach on the New South Wales South Coast after a drone operator spotted their “help” message written in the sand.

In 2020, three men were rescued from a tiny island in Micronesia after their SOS message on a beach was spotted by Australian authorities.

In 2014, five people who were stranded on a rock off north Queensland after their boat broke anchor were rescued after emergency crews spotted their SOS message written on a sandbank. 

String of outback rescues

Saturday’s incident is the latest in a string of successful rescues by emergency personnel in outback WA this year.  

Last month, a South Australian couple were forced to activate a personal locater beacon after becoming stranded for four nights on a remote bush track on the Nullarbor.

They had plenty of food and water but were unable to dig themselves out after becoming bogged.  

In April, a group of eight people were rescued by helicopter after spending three days stranded on a dirt track while travelling between Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Aboriginal community of Tjuntjuntjara, about 650 kilometres north-east of the city.  

They were the second party travelling to Tjuntjuntjara that had become stranded in the flood-ravaged region since record rainfall in March, when seven people, including children, spent four nights in bushland before being rescued by helicopter.