All Emergency Calls in Bulgaria to be Redirected to 112 from October

All emergency calls will be redirected to 112 starting October 03, 2011, according to Stoyan Gramatikov, Head of Directorate "National 112 system".

Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, he explained that the step would boost cooperation among the units.

"We did not stop the other emergency numbers all at once because they are popular with the people, but once we make sure that 112 is universally recognizable, we can safely deactivate the others. Starting next Monday, regardless if you dial 150 (ambulance), 160 (fire brigade) or 166 (police), you will be connected to 112", Gramatikov stated.

To give a clear picture of the situation, he explained that seven European countries had disabled their other emergency phone lines, leaving 112 as a one-stop emergency number, while seven others had left their existing emergency hot lines open alongside 112.

He told journalists that an estimated 66% of Bulgarians were currently familiar with the112 universal emergency number.

"Bulgaria is among the top performing EU countries in this respect. Three years ago, as little as 21% of the local population was aware about the existence of 112", Gramatikov said.

On a positive note, the head of the "National 112 system" unit pointed out that Bulgaria had a 50-60% rate of fake calls to 112, compared to 90% in some EU countries.

EU Institutions have declared February 11 as "European 112 Day".

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