Newborn’s death unlikely to be linked with Optus outage, police say
Four deaths had been associated with the outage which struck across WA, the NT and SA on Thursday, but police on Sunday issued a clarification.
Police say an Optus outage is unlikely to have contributed to the death of a newborn boy in outer Adelaide.
Four deaths had been associated with the outage which struck across WA, the Northern Territory and South Australia on Thursday, but on Sunday police took the unusual step of sharing information from a preliminary investigation.
“The deceased boy’s grandmother has told investigating police that she attempted to call triple-0 using her mobile phone when she was alerted to the fact her grandson was not breathing,” a police spokesperson said.
“When her call was not connected, she immediately used another mobile telephone in the house and was successfully connected to triple-0.
“While police would not normally provide commentary on individual circumstances of such deaths, in this instance the public interest in the matter requires this action.”
Optus was told twice by customers about the outage to triple-0 on Thursday morning, which was down for nearly 14 hours in parts of the country.
Woman died at home alone
An Adelaide woman reportedly died at home alone with her husband unable to contact triple-0 as a result of the catastrophic Optus outage.
The 68-year-old is believed to have suffered chest pains, contacting her husband who was unable to get onto emergency services due to the outage, according to The Advertiser.
Her husband called on authorities to investigate in a statement.
“On behalf of our family we mourn the loss of our wife/sister, we hope that the authorities are able to investigate the terrible circumstances so other families don’t experience a tragedy like this,” he said.
WA death linked to outage
A WA death has been linked to the deadly triple-0 outage, Optus has confirmed.
In a statement, Optus said on Saturday night that a Western Australian person had died after attempting to call emergency services.
“We are saddened to learn of a new fatality in Western Australia which appears to have occurred during the outage period, and we have been advised by WA Police that they believe the individual likely attempted to contact triple-0 for assistance,” Optus said in a statement.
“We will continue to work with WA Police and other agencies to understand more of what has occurred.”
WA Premier Roger Cook said that WA Police were alerted to the case while conducting welfare checks.
“I am further advised that as a result of WA Police undertaking welfare checks, that there is potentially another case of a Western Australian that has been attempting to call triple-0 and passed away,” he said.
“We are awaiting confirmation of this latest incident.
“This is a dreadful, dreadful tragedy and it’s so disappointing that it has occurred and it is so disappointing about the way that the situation has been revealed, both to government, to the authorities and to the public.”
Calls ignored
Optus ignored two calls from customers on Thursday morning, saying they could not contact triple-0, as South Australia’s premier Peter Malinauskas branded the telco “reprehensible”.
The fatal meltdown stemmed from a botched firewall upgrade in South Australia that began at 12.30am on Thursday. But it was not until 13 hours later at 1.30pm that chief executive Stephen Rue said that Optus was alerted to the “severity of the incident” when a customer contacted the telco.
This was despite two customers contacting Optus’s customer contact centre on Thursday morning, saying they could not call triple-0 – calls that Mr Rue said failed to be escalated.
“I do want to be transparent that we now know we were informed by two individuals that they could not connect into triple-0, and this information was not surfaced with the relevant escalation at that time,” Mr Rue said on Saturday afternoon.
“We will be working with the TIO (Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman) on these complaints, and I will provide more details in due course. We are also conducting a review of all calls to our contact centres during the time of the outage.”
It is the second time in two years that a software upgrade has stopped Optus customers calling triple-0. The telco was fined $12m over the last failure – which Opposition communications spokesman Melissa McIntosh said was not enough to prevent this “horrible incident from happening”.
“We need a thorough investigation. I’m not only talking about Optus, but Australians need to have reassurance that every single telecommunications provider in this country will be operational in their greatest time of need,” Ms McIntosh said.
Mr Rue apologised to customers and the families who lost loved ones, and said he would provide daily updates “as more information becomes known”.
He also said he has spoken to South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who blasted Optus as “reprehensible”.
Optus attempted to complete the firewall upgrade, which is designed to enhance security and prevent cyber attacks, in South Australia. Optus had previously been felled by a large-scale cyber attack in late 2022, which exposed the personal and sensitive data of about 10 million Australians to hackers.
Optus waited until 5.45pm on Friday – a day after the failed upgrade – to reveal its fatal consequences, blindsiding politicians and emergency services.
“We now know Optus was first alerted at approximately 9am on Thursday by a customer of their network. It took two additional complaints and 32 hours for the public to be notified. This is unacceptable,” Ms McIntosh said.
“The lack of collaboration between the government and Optus on this matter is astounding.”
Asked why he waited so long, Mr Rue said Optus had been “establishing the facts” and completing welfare checks on about 600 Australians who could not dial triple-0 during the outage.
Making the outage more complicated was that normal calls could still be made. Only triple-0 calls were affected. This would have made it difficult to identify a problem until it was too late. Emergency “clamp-on” arrangements that divert triple-0 calls to rival carriers also failed.
“The system upgrade that took place in the early hours of Thursday morning, around 12.30am was a regular upgrade,” Mr Rue said.
“Initial testing and monitoring did not indicate there were any issues with calls connecting normal calls for connecting as they should, and call volumes at a national level did not raise any red flags there was a technical failure in the system. And further, there were no alarms to alert us that some emergency calls were not making it through for emergency services.”
But the TIO has prepared two complaints from customers who called Optus to say they could not call triple-0. Those calls were tragically ignored.
Mr Rue said Optus would appoint an “independent person to lead a review” into what went wrong.
The Communications Workers Union said: “this tragedy must never be allowed to happen again”.
“This is not the first time Optus outages have disrupted emergency calls, but it must be the last. Australians need an iron-clad guarantee that when they dial triple-0, the call will get through, no matter what,” the CWU said.
“The company let Australians down in the most tragic way possible. That failure is unacceptable.
“The Communications Workers Union will do everything in our power to hold Optus accountable and to ensure urgent reforms are made, so that our emergency services are never compromised again”.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said the outage was “completely unacceptable” and would be “thoroughly investigated”, while Mr Rue said he was currently unable to explain how the tragedy had occurred.
Mr Rue said welfare checks were still ongoing, revealing that the outage affected only triple-0 calls, while normal calls could still be made during the “technical failure”. The fatal incident comes less than a year after the Singapore-controlled telco was fined $12m after a similar failed upgrade resulted in more than 2000 people being unable to call triple-0 during 2023’s national outage.
Asked how a similar catastrophe could happen again so quickly, Mr Rue said: “I share your frustration. It should not have happened.
“We’re doing a thorough investigation. Today is not about me. Today is about the people who lost their lives.
“Please know that these welfare checks are ongoing. I want to offer a sincere apology to all customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them most, and I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the people who passed away.
“I am so sorry for your loss. What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down and you have my assurance that we are conducting a thorough investigation, and once concluded, we will share the facts of the incident publicly.”
Mr Rue had called the news conference at 5.30pm Friday, then turned up 15 minutes late, sombre-faced. He read a brief statement before answering questions. It ended seven minutes later.
The tragedy is the latest in a series of disastrous missteps at Optus after it was hit by a cyber attack in late 2022, which exposed personal and sensitive information of about 10 million Australians. More recently, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission sued the telco for unconscionable conduct after it sold products to First Nations people, the disabled, homeless people and even one elderly man with dementia, knowing they could not afford them.
Ms Wells said the deadly outage was “incredibly serious and completely unacceptable”.
“The impact of this failure has had tragic consequences and my personal thoughts are with those who have lost a loved one,” she said. “While details are still emerging, no triple-0 outage is acceptable. This outage will be thoroughly investigated. The Australian government accepted all recommendations from the previous Optus outage review and has fully implemented 12 of the 18 recommendations, with the remaining six under way.”
Mr Malinauskas said South Australia’s government, police and ambulance service had not received any advice from Optus about the deaths until after Mr Rue’s news conference began.
He said authorities had no idea who the South Australian victims were because Optus had given no information.
“They have dropped this press conference on a Friday night without speaking to any officials in government that they have come across this information,” he said.
Mr Rue, who vowed to reset Optus after joining the company from government-owned NBN Co last year, said the network upgrade began on Thursday.
He said the process sparked a technical failure, which stopped calls being made to triple-0 in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Normally when calls cannot be made to triple-0 on one carrier, people are diverted to another network so they can still contact emergency services. But like during the 2023 outage, that did not happen.
Mr Rue was not able to explain why, only saying “that’s part of the investigation”.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority criticised Optus following the 2023 outage for failing in its most basic service by leaving its customers unable to piggyback off other telco networks to reach triple-0.
“Triple-0 availability is the most fundamental service telcos must provide to the public,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin when she fined the company in November.
“When an emergency call fails to connect there can be devastating consequences for public health and safety.
“Our findings indicate that Optus failed in the management of its network in a number of areas and that the outage should have been preventable.”
The 2023 outage sparked a Senate inquiry and ultimately led to the resignation of chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. At the time, Optus pledged it would improve its “support for customers at critical times”.
The only area Optus was able to improve during the latest outage was conducting welfare checks on customers who could not contact triple-0. Mr Rue did not divulge when Optus became aware of the outage, saying there was an ongoing investigation.
Sources indicated the telco briefed the federal government before addressing the public.
Additional reporting: Newswire
More Coverage
Originally published as Newborn’s death unlikely to be linked with Optus outage, police say
WiseTech, Woolworths lead large-cap gains
