Emergency line outage cause remains unclear

The cause of a software fault that left Iceland’s 112 emergency number out of service for about an hour on Friday remains unknown, mbl.is reported. People were advised to call 599-0112 or contact the emergency service through the chat at 112.is or its app.

The telephone exchange was fully operational again at 4:15 p.m., and calls to 112 were coming through normally, said Jón Svanberg Hjartarson, director of the emergency service.

It is not yet known how many people tried to call 112 during the outage, or how many used the alternative number. The service will look into the figures, Hjartarson said, adding that he hoped the disruption had not had a significant impact.

The emergency line typically receives about 650 calls a day. Not all are emergencies: the total also includes automated misdials, children experimenting with phones and some callers who contact the service repeatedly, Hjartarson said.