A 60 year old man died on Saturday morning, after collapsing as he got out of his car at the service station on Via do Infante, in Olhão.
Family members tried to call the emergency phone line 112, manned by the PSP, at just after 11am, but were forwarded to voicemail for 45 minutes, unable to speak to a human being on the line to explain the situation.
While they waited for emergency assistance the desperate family members accompanying the man tried to help him, but with no improvement.
According to the reports on news websites, the ambulance service INEM “didn’t receive the request for assistance until 11.30 am”. The ambulance then didn't arrive on scene until 12.08 pm, more than an hour after the initial 112 calls had been made.
Once the emergency and resuscitation vehicle had reached the scene, along with an ambulance from Olhão fire station, the man was taken to Faro Hospital “on advanced life support”.
Not long after, his death was declared.
“INEM admits that there was a delay in providing assistance and has already ordered the opening of an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the assistance”.
