Between the end of the afternoon and the end of the evening (around midnight) of Wednesday June 2, the French emergency numbers were unreachable. For some departments, the problem continued all night. There would have been a problem with the router, a failure of technical equipment, explains France Info according to statements from Orange.
Spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians of France, Christophe Prudhomme said that this incident had been feared for some time: “For many years, we have insisted on the fact that with the proliferation of operators, the liberalization of telecommunications, our systems are not secure. On the other hand, they are not sized up to what we want. “he explained to France Info.
A line security problem
He added that when the emergency numbers were saturated (which has already happened, in particular during the attacks of 2015), there was no backup system. However, these numbers are composed of more than 150,000 times a day. This means that when they are no longer contactable, the only option available to people in distress is to go to a hospital or a health practitioner themselves. However, this is far from always possible.
For now, the balance sheet is three people died during the breakdown time slot, a person in Morbihan suffering from a cardiovascular disorder, and two other people in Reunion. Around 7 p.m., an emergency option was put in place via 400 telephone numbers in 90 departments. An investigation should clarify the circumstances of this event and establish a full assessment of the patients affected.
Sources : France TV news, AFP
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