All emergency numbers in Belgium have been restored after being unreachable for several minutes on Wednesday morning.
In Belgium, if you urgently need the police, fire brigade or an ambulance, you can call the emergency numbers 112, 100 or 101. Those who urgently need both medical and police assistance can dial either of the two emergency numbers (100 or 101).
A widespread breakdown had paralysed the number 112 (to contact the fire brigade and ambulance services when a life is in danger), 101 (to contact the police) and 100 (the old 112) meaning they were unreachable for several minutes on Wednesday from around 10:30, the federal police said on its Dutch-language page on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Translation: "IMPORTANT!!! The emergency numbers 112, 101 and 100 are currently unavailable. It is best to contact your local police zone, fire brigade or medical services directly in case of an emergency."
Five minutes later, it confirmed that the emergency numbers 101 and 112 were available again, but that the emergency number 100 (formerly 112) was still not working. In an emergency, the federal police recommend contacting the local police zone or medical services directly.
Around midday, the police reported that the 100 number, which remained disconnected for a little longer, was also up again. The National Crisis Centre then provided alternative numbers for each province, while the Brussels fire brigade also temporarily put into service four new numbers to communicate emergencies in Brussels.
Proximus is still investigating the cause of the outage, the Crisis Centre told Belga News Agency. The Federal Police had previously suggested a fire in a data centre.
