[LINK] Lost in the Blue Mountains: triple-0 operator 'uncaring'

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Ivan Trundle wrote:
> On 17/04/2009, at 8:57 AM, Danny Yee wrote:
> 
>> The other option would be to ring a family member or friend, who  
>> should
>> know what route I planned to take -- and will be motivated to help.
> 
> Not always an option. There are places where the signal strength is so  
> poor that only 000 calls or SMS get through - and there are places  
> where SMS *might* get through, but is delayed for a considerable time.
> 
> In any event, he might well have tried to call others - we simply  
> don't know.
> 
> Note also that he got into trouble DURING the expedition: authorities  
> would not normally have been altered until AFTER he was due back. So  
> the generally-accepted practices that are in place for Duke of  
> Edinburgh's Award activities (which are comprehensive) would not have  
> helped.
> 
<snip>
There is more information in other stories:
> ALONE, without water and disoriented in bush scrub, schoolboy David Iredale made six frantic 000 phone calls. His life was slipping away, and he knew it.
...
> David initially called police but then made five calls to the ambulance service after losing a connection.
....
> "I'm in the bush, I am lost, I don't know," the boy replied.
...
> The tragedy began when David set out with two friends on December 10 for a bushwalk which they thought was part of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
> 
> They had discussed the trek with the program's co-ordinator at Sydney Grammar, Jim Forbes.
> 
> The inquest will investigate the extent to which the school had knowledge of the boys' plans.
> 
> After setting out from Echo Point the boys set up camp on the night of December 10 on Mount Solitary, having failed to find water and having exhausted their supplies. They made for the river the following morning but David, being fitter, went on ahead and lost contact with his mates some time after 11.30am.
<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25336156-2702,00.html?from=public_rss>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202