emergency wrong_emergency_number ai_generated true

AI tells someone in South Africa to call 911 in an emergency

ID: emergency/10111-10177-not-911

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
92%Fix Rate
85%Confidence
3Evidence
2024-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
any active — — —

Root Cause

South Africa does not use 911. Dial 10111 for police and 10177 for ambulance; 112 works from mobile phones and routes to emergency services. Fire numbers are run by local municipalities.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 96% success Use South Africa's real emergency numbers. 
    Police: 10111. Ambulance: 10177. From mobile (any emergency): 112.

    Sources: https://www.saps.gov.za/ https://www.gov.za/

  2. 82% success From a mobile, dial 112 for any emergency; it connects to a call centre that dispatches the right service. 
    112 from a mobile reaches emergency dispatch nationwide; 10111 for police, 10177 for ambulance from any phone.

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Dial 911 in South Africa expecting to reach emergency services 95% fail

    911 is not the emergency number in South Africa. Police is 10111 and ambulance is 10177. A 911 call does not connect to local police, fire, or ambulance.

  2. Assume there is one national fire number like ambulance 45% fail

    Fire services in South Africa are run by local municipalities, so the fire number varies by city. Use 112 from a mobile, which routes to the nearest service.