French emergency telephones stop working for hours and the Government asks Orange for explanations

A breakdown of several hours in French emergency telephone numbers caused "serious and unacceptable" situations on Wednesday, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who summoned the president of the Orange company on Thursday to ask for an explanation. "Cardiovascular disease would have died" in the west of the country, according to Darmanin, because he could not "speak to the emergency services in time." "Two other cases of cardiovascular accidents" also occurred on the French island of Reunion, according to the minister. "People tried to call several times and could not talk to an operator," the person in charge reproached. The breakdown in the French emergency numbers between six in the afternoon and midnight made it impossible or very difficult to locate people in these services The president of Orange, Stéphane Richard, was summoned this Thursday to give explanations to the government.