Emergency in Sonian Forest: French-speaking 112 caller told to speak Dutch

A French-speaking woman who called the 112 emergency number when she saw someone seriously injured after a fall in the Sonian Forest in Brussels was told she could not be helped in French, but only in Dutch.

The accident happened in Uccle, in the bilingual territory of the Brussels region, but caller Marie had no mobile phone reception at the scene of the fall.

When Marie finally got through to an emergency services employee, she was asked to speak in Dutch.

“We are a Flemish government agency,” the emergency services employee reportedly told her.

“I speak perfect Dutch,” Marie told reporters, “but I prefer to speak in my mother tongue in case I had to follow instructions to give him first aid, perform CPR or something similar.”

In the end, no ambulance was sent to the scene of the accident.

“During the phone call, the person who had fallen regained consciousness,” Marie explained.

“He said he did not want to be transported by ambulance. He then got up and ran away. I noticed that he seemed very drunk.”

Marie said she was disturbed by the authorities’ insistence on using the Dutch language during the emergency call.

“I find this employee's response scandalous, unacceptable and probably illegal,” she said.

“What would have happened if I had had to provide very precise information, answer specific questions or administer first aid with advice from the operator who refused to speak French? It could have cost a human life.”

Damien Dermaux, spokesperson for Belgium's directorate-general for civil protection, said it was possible that callers in border areas could have their call directed to a Flemish control centre rather than a Brussels one, perhaps due to a technical mishap whereby the call was forwarded via a transmission mast on Flemish territory to the control centre of a neighbouring province.

“Operators always try to help as quickly as possible,” said Dermaux.

“If language problems arise, a French-speaking colleague is normally called in.”

Flemish emergency centres work with a call forwarding system across provinces, meaning when the emergency centre in one province is very busy, a call may be handled in another province to avoid losing time.

“In order not to waste any time, the operator will try to help the caller, either by asking them if the conversation can be conducted in the language of the region, or by asking a colleague who speaks the caller's language to take over,” Dermaux explained.

“In emergencies, every second counts, which is why operators try to handle the call within their own centre. If that’s not possible, they contact a centre that speaks the caller's language.”

The Brussels fire brigade said it should always be possible to contact the Brussels emergency centre in both French and Dutch, but that this is not necessarily the case in Flanders and Wallonia, where bilingualism is not a requirement for emergency call centre staff.

Dermaux said the home affairs ministry is working on a language selection menu to avoid problems such as the one in the Sonian Forest.

Meanwhile, politicians have reacted and discussed the issue on a municipal level, with many noting that problems more commonly arise along opposite language lines: Dutch speakers in Brussels tend to have a harder time accessing public services in Dutch, with French being more dominant.