The country’s main emergency telephone numbers are working normally this morning, after a breakdown in the system overnight, Belga news agency reports.
The problem affected the numbers 100 (ambulance and fire service), 101 (police) and 112, the EU-wide emergency number for emergencies.
The breakdown was blamed on technical problems at Proximus, the partly state-owned telecommunications company which administers the system. Problems reaching the numbers first arose around midnight.
“Proximus is currently looking for a technical solution and is in contact with the government,” the Crisis Centre reported in the early hours.
The Crisis Centre has a list of alternative emergency numbers, according to province and to phone provider. For Brussels, for example, the alternative number is 00 32 471 512 857 for ambulance and fire for Proximus, and 02/418 17 60 for police (all providers).
A full list of alternative numbers is here and here.
At 07.40, the Crisis Centre reported on Twitter that the situation had been resolved.
“After the major disruption last night at Proximus, the emergency numbers 112, 101 and 100 are again available. The cause of the failure is still being analysed at Proximus,” the Centre announced.
“The National Crisis Centre would like to thank its partners for the quick and efficient follow-up last night. The Federal Governors' Services have sent a BE-Alert message to all those registered in their province, with more information on the situation. The National Crisis Centre also thanks the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum and the Perex Center for sharing the information on the digital highway signs.”
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
