Optus Service Disruption Unlikely Linked to Death of Eight-Week-Old Baby

One of the initial deaths announced by Optus was that of an eight-month-old baby boy in Gawler, north of Adelaide.

The boy’s grandmother had initially told police she had tried to call triple zero on her mobile phone after realising her grandson was not breathing.

However, a statement from South Australia Police today has shed more light on the incident, revealing it was likely not a factor behind the infant’s tragic death.

“While the family was impacted by the Optus outage, it appears at this stage it is unlikely to have contributed to the death,” the statement said.

“When her call was not connected, she immediately used another mobile telephone in the house and was successfully connected to triple zero.

“The preliminary investigations indicate the child’s death is not due to any delay in SAAS [emergency services] attending the Mulga St house, despite the failure of the first attempt to call 000.”

SA Police said it did not usually make public comments such as this, but believed the public interest in the story meant transparency was required.

They confirmed a full investigation was being provided to the coroner, who will decide whether an inquest will be required.

Police also said the investigation into other death in the state connected to the outage, a 68-year-old woman from Queenstown, was still ongoing.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue is scheduled to address the media at 3pm AEST today.