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Anyone ever call 911 from Hong Kong?

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  1. #1

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    Anyone ever call 911 from Hong Kong?

    Yes, I know it is 999 for emergency services in Hong Kong, but this story got me curious:

    American biologist Liz Francis trapped on UK beach dials 911 and is rescued | Mail Online

    A US woman found herself trapped on a beach with a rising tide so she called 911. Amazingly the call was routed to US emergency services, who patched her through to a UK emergency operator.

    Just wondering if anyone has ever tried that from Hong Kong? I guess you'd have to be using a US phone that was roaming for it to work.


  2. #2

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    What's amazing is that she didn't know to dial 112 for emergency services across Europe. Who travels abroad but doesn't bother to check that country's emergency services number? I guess someone who goes to a beach but also doesn't bother to check the times of the tides.

    Last edited by Claire ex-ax; 17-05-2011 at 04:50 PM.
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  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Claire ex-ax:
    What's amazing is that she didn't know to dial 112 for emergency services across Europe. Who travels abroad but doesn't bother to check that country's emergency services number? I guess someone who goes to a beach but also doesn't bother to check the times of the tides.
    Guilty as charged...

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by penguinsix:
    [SNIP]
    A US woman found herself trapped on a beach with a rising tide so she called 911. Amazingly the call was routed to US emergency services, who patched her through to a UK emergency operator.
    [SNIP]
    I call BS on that one. GSM mobile phones and networks generally automatically direct calls to any recognized emergency number (911, 999, 112, 110, etc.) to the local emergency center.
    In fact, the quotation in the article seems to suggest that this is exactly what happened:

    She said: 'I didn't know the emergency number here in the UK, so dialled 911 - the American emergency number - and fortunately got diverted through to the police who put me in touch with the coastguard.

  5. #5

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    Isn't 112 global? It's the default mobile phone emergency number in Australia and NZ too which you can call irrespective of whether or not you have a plan with the provider who has reception. (ie you don't need to be roaming).


  6. #6

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    112 is the global standard (part of the GSM standard). You can call it on any network. You don't even need a SIM card in the phone.


  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Claire ex-ax:
    What's amazing is that she didn't know to dial 112 for emergency services across Europe. Who travels abroad but doesn't bother to check that country's emergency services number? I guess someone who goes to a beach but also doesn't bother to check the times of the tides.
    Never heard of 112, vaguely aware of 999 in HK even though I have traveled and lived all over the world. I have never bothered to check this when I travel nor where I lived. There was a time when these numbers didn't exist and life went on... I'm not about to change my wicked ways either... I don't try to plan my life around every possible bad thing that might happen because it rarely does. To each their own...
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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by gilleshk:
    I'm not about to change my wicked ways either...
    roflmao. Not knowing a phone number makes you the reincarnation of Clyde Barrow, one supposes.....

  9. #9

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    I'd bet that probably 80% of people never check the emergency number when they land somewhere new. I've never traveled with anyone that was remotely concerned about this. Just to check, I'm receiving a group of about 30 people to Hk next month and I'll do a quick poll to see how many know that it's 999 over here. I am betting a couple at most...


  10. #10

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    Actually I confess that I didn't find out that kind of thing until I travelled with a child...


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