URGENT UPDATE: A devastating Optus outage has been linked to the deaths of two individuals in Western Australia, raising serious concerns about emergency communication failures. Authorities have confirmed that WA Police were first alerted to the outage nearly 24 hours after it began, when Optus requested welfare checks on 26 failed emergency calls just after 9 PM on September 17, 2023.
The full scale of this catastrophic network failure came to light only the following afternoon, when WA Police were informed of an additional 123 unsuccessful calls in a public media release. Commander Jodie Pearson stated that the police were unaware of the severity of the situation and the tragic deaths until this announcement.
“It’s unacceptable that the WA Police Force were not advised of these deaths or the scale of the outage prior to this public media release,” Pearson said, emphasizing the urgency of the situation. The outage, which began at approximately 10:40 PM on Wednesday, left many unable to contact emergency services, leading to dire consequences.
WA Police have now completed welfare checks on all 149 calls that failed to connect due to the outage. In this process, they confirmed that another man had died after being unable to reach triple-zero emergency services.
Acting WA Premier Rita Saffioti condemned the telco, stating, “It’s clear that Optus has failed the Western Australian public.” The implications of this outage are grave, with lives lost due to a failure in basic communication services.
Initially, Optus had contacted WA Police to confirm that the 26 callers were safe and that services had been restored, claiming there was no ongoing threat to the community. However, the situation escalated as the true extent of the failure unfolded, highlighting critical gaps in emergency response systems.
Authorities are now investigating how such a significant failure occurred and are demanding accountability from Optus. The incident raises vital questions about the reliability of telecommunications during emergencies, a concern that resonates globally as communities depend on these services for safety.
As this story develops, more details are expected to emerge. The public and officials alike are awaiting answers regarding the measures Optus will implement to prevent future outages.
Stay tuned for ongoing updates as we continue to track this urgent situation in Western Australia.
