Signage at an Optus retail store in Melbourne, Thursday, August 31, 2023. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett) NO ARCHIVING
UPDATE: A 68-year-old woman tragically died at home after her husband was unable to reach emergency services due to a major outage affecting Optus on Thursday. This incident highlights the devastating impact of the outage, which disrupted over 600 emergency calls across Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
The woman, who lived in the Adelaide suburb of Queenstown, suffered from chest pains and attempted to contact her husband. However, his calls to triple-0 failed to get through. The outage lasted for a staggering 13 hours, from 1am to 2pm AEST, leaving multiple individuals without critical access to emergency services.
In total, two people died in WA during this outage, including a 74-year-old man and a 49-year-old man, both from the Perth metropolitan area. Additionally, an eight-week-old baby also succumbed in South Australia during this chaotic timeframe.
In a heartfelt statement, the husband of the deceased woman expressed his grief, saying, “On behalf of our family we mourn the loss of our Wife/Sister. We hope that the authorities are able to investigate the terrible circumstances so other families don’t experience a tragedy like this.” He also extended condolences to the families of other victims impacted by this outage.
As of Saturday evening, WA Police have conducted 137 welfare checks on the 149 callers in WA who were unable to connect with emergency services. In light of this crisis, Optus CEO Stephen Rue is expected to address the public again on Sunday afternoon regarding the company’s response and accountability.
Mr. Rue expressed his sorrow over the situation, stating, “I am deeply saddened by this further news and extend my heartfelt condolences to the person’s family and friends.” However, he faced intense criticism for the company’s handling of the outage. Local government officials are demanding a thorough investigation, emphasizing the need for assurance that Australians can trust their network in times of crisis.
WA officials are insistent that Optus must be held accountable for the incident. “This outage has put the lives of Western Australians at risk, and my Government will stop at nothing until Optus has fully and clearly explained what has happened,” said a government spokesperson.
Earlier in the week, Mr. Rue admitted during a press conference that two separate complaints regarding the service outage were made to the company’s contact center around 9am AEST on Thursday but were not addressed. The situation raises serious questions about the operational readiness of essential services during outages.
As families mourn the loss of loved ones, authorities continue to investigate the tragic circumstances surrounding this incident. The public awaits further information from Optus, as the fallout from this outage looms large over the community.
Stay tuned for updates as this story develops.
