UPDATE: A catastrophic outage affecting Optus has left two people dead in Western Australia, with WA Police learning of the tragedy almost 24 hours after the incident began. The outage, which disrupted triple-zero emergency calls, started around 10:40 PM WA time on September 17, 2023, and its full extent was only grasped the following afternoon.
Emergency services were first alerted to the issue around 9:04 PM on Thursday when Optus requested welfare checks on 26 failed emergency calls. It wasn’t until a public media release revealed an additional 123 unsuccessful calls that police understood the severity of the situation, confirming the deaths of two West Australians who could not reach emergency services.
WA Police Commander Jodie Pearson expressed frustration, stating, “The WA Police Force were not advised of these deaths or the scale of the outage prior to this public media release.” This alarming delay in communication raises serious questions about the reliability of emergency services during such critical failures.
Authorities confirmed that the welfare checks on the initial 26 callers showed they were safe, leading Optus to claim the issue was resolved. However, the reality was far more dire, as police later discovered that those who died were unable to reach help in time.
Acting WA Premier Rita Saffioti condemned the situation, stating, “It’s clear that Optus has failed the Western Australian public.” The emotional impact of this outage is profound, as families mourn the loss of loved ones who could not obtain urgent assistance.
As investigations continue, WA Police have now completed checks on all 149 calls unable to connect to emergency services. This incident highlights the critical need for reliable communication networks, especially during emergency situations.
What happens next remains to be seen, but pressure is mounting on Optus to ensure such failures do not happen again. The community is left grappling with the tragic consequences of a network failure that could have been avoided.
Stay tuned for further updates as this developing story unfolds.
