Emergency call to 999 makes all the difference

Thirty labourers, drifting on a pontoon on the river Meghna in Barishal at noon on Sunday, were caught in the severe cyclonic storm Bulbul.

The workers of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) were dredging a channel in Miarchar of Meghna in the district.

After hearing the cyclone forecast, the workers and engineers took shelter in six pontoons near the shore. But all of a sudden, the anchor of a pontoon was dislodged in the gusty wind and the pontoon, along with 30 workers, were pulled into the river.

One of the workers, Ramzan Ali, managed to keep his head in the chaos and made a phone call to 999, asking to be rescued. It was 2:58pm. After receiving the call, the police, BIWTA and members of the coast guard jointly conducted a rescue operation and saved all 30 workers in just two hours.

Superintendent of police of Barishal, Saiful Islam, told Prothom Alo on Monday that they could rescue the workers quickly as they received the distress call over 999.

This is one of the many calls that were made to 999 seeking assistance from law enforcement in emergencies.

Officials working at National Emergency Service, 999, said they have been helping people in various emergencies like arranging ferry services for patients, in life-threatening situations, rape, torture of housemaids, being trapped in a lift, accidents, fire, mugging, and so on.

Anyone anytime can call to 999 from a mobile phone without any charge. Trained employees of 999 help the caller contact the fire service, police or ambulance or any other service they require. After getting a call the emergency service employees take immediate action, asking details of names, addresses and the type of problem.

If anyone, for instance, calls for the police, the 999 people help connect the caller to the police station of the concerned area through the teleconference system.

On 15 October, Sonia from Keraniganj, Dhaka phoned to 999 at 12:08pm. She said some people kidnapped her husband from Munshiganj jail gate and locked him up in a house in Muktarpur ferry terminal area. The kidnappers asked for a ransom of Tk 600,000.

The operator immediately linked Sonia to the officer-in-charge of Munshiganj police station. Police raided the house and rescued Sonia’s husband immediately and arrested a person, Shiplu, from the spot.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Sonia said she might not have received the help so soon if she had phoned police directly. But by calling 999, the police reached the spot in 20 minutes. She did not have to spend a penny for that. Instead it was the operator who called her to make sure she got the service.

In the same way, many calls were made to 999 over the last few days, some to prevent child marriage, to rescue missing children and to stop illegal felling of trees. Even cyber-crime victims phone 999 to get immediate service.

The operators of 999 have many such success stories to tell over the past 20 months.

Chief of national emergency service and additional deputy inspector general of police Tabarak Ullah told Prothom Alo that people’s faith in emergency call service has been strengthened. “That’s why we are getting more and more calls. The quality of service also has improved. At the same time, the number of prank calls has decreased,” he said.

He also said that previously a person would have to go to the police station to filing a GD (general diary). Sometimes, they did not even get proper service there. Now they are receiving services immediately after calling to 999. The people are pleased with this response.

“We’ve taken initiatives to resolve some of the problems we had earlier, so that we can identify the caller’s ID and NID numbers. We’re working to improve the system. Besides, we’ve taken initiative to compose certain rules to use 999 services. The government has allotted land for the office of 999, the National Emergency Service. If the telephone operators cooperate, we would be able to help callers more. Our operators also need training. The service will be more effective if the operators receive the required training,” Tabarak Ullah added.

The National Emergency Service office sources said they received 12,978,723 calls to 999 in the past 20 months. Around 2.2 million callers phoned for various types of information while 2,685,064 callers took other services.

Among them, 101,114 calls were made seeking help from the police. Also, around 40,000 calls were made to report accidents, seeking security and ambulance.

Operation of the National Emergency Service 999 is conducted from the police control room at Abdul Ghani Road in Dhaka. A recent visit by this correspondent revealed around 450 employees work on the two floors at the call centre of National Emergency Service. Those who receive calls are known as call takers. A number of officials supervise the call takers. The employees work in four shifts here. There is a separate desk for ambulance service.

On 12 December 2017, prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s ICT affairs adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy inaugurated the operations of 999 at Abdul Ghani Road in Dhaka. Anyone can phone from any part of the country without any fee.

*The report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza