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In Calgary, Canada, as the frantic family of a dying toddler waited in vain for help at their north Calgary home in May 2008, paramedics were rushing to an address three provinces away in the southern Ontario city of Mississauga due to incorrect address data, Reports thestar.com
Phone company Comwave said its emergency call centre did get a call from somebody in distress, but it "was not completed" and insufficient address information was given. "So what they ended up doing was going to plan B - which is the address that's on file for the VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) caller," company spokeswoman Alison George said. "And in this case it was an address in a completely different city."
George said the combination of an expired address on file and the fact that the new address wasn't fully conveyed to operators led to a "highly unfortunate" set of circumstances for a system that was indeed working.
Comwave says the Internet phone technology is transportable so there's no physical address attached to the numbers. And George says it's vital that people using such phone providers keep their emergency contact information updated, especially if they move.
"You don't want to go into where does the fault lie? It's just so tragic.' George said from Toronto.
After about 20 minutes waiting for an ambulance, the toddlers aunt rushed outside and began banging on neighbours' doors to get help. One of them called 911 from their phone. But by the time paramedics finally arrived, it was too late to revive the infant.
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