The Netherlands lost access to all 112 emergency number services for around four hours after national carrier KPN’s network went down. This meant that for that time period the 112 emergency service number was unavailable across the country. Landlines and mobile phones linked to the KPN network were also affected and the emergency services responded by putting out alternative contact information on social media. At this stage, no one is sure what happened but it is not thought that any form of cyber attack was involved.
Editorial credit: Photos by D / Shutterstock.com
The good news is that everything seemed to be handled well with additional police patrols organised and social media notifications sent out advising people to go directly to hospitals or to police or fire stations for any emergencies.
Firefighters also went out proactively to key areas, with one The Barendrecht Fire Brigade (a town suburb of Rotterdam) even taking to Twitter to reassure residents.
Wij zijn aanwezig op het #havenhoofd. U kunt hiernaar toe komen als u 1 van de hulpdiensten nodig heeft. Ook de kazerne is bemand. #112storing #112onbereikbaar pic.twitter.com/Ehg8A4fQma
— BrandweerBarendrecht (@brwbarendrecht) June 24, 2019
Roughly translated as "We are present at havenhoofd. You can come here if you need 1 of the emergency services. The barracks are also staffed."
