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Emergency service lines are back up and running after a widespread Bell telecommunications outage affected both emergency and non-emergency lines in Newfoundland and Labrador for about two hours Wednesday afternoon.
At the start of the outage, Bell Aliant said in a social media post that customers may not be able to make voice calls, including to emergency services.
“We are working to restore service as quickly as possible. If you require emergency assistance, please go directly to the nearest fire station, police station or hospital emergency department,” the post stated.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was affected, but reported that its telephone services were back online as of 6 p.m. NT. Minutes later, the RCMP reported that services were also back online for its detachments.
People can now call 911 in the event of an emergency, the police said.
Newfoundland Power and the City of St. John’s also reported being affected by the outage.
There is no word yet on the cause.
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