SYDNEY (Reuters) – Three people in Australia have died after a technical failure at Optus, the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider, disrupted emergency call services.

CEO Stephen Rue said the failure occurred during a network upgrade on Thursday, which potentially impacted 600 customers in the states of South Australia and Western Australia, and in the Northern Territory.

Welfare checks later found three people dead in households who had attempted to make emergency triple zero (“000”) calls, he told a press conference on Friday, adding that checks were still ongoing.

“I want to offer a sincere apology to all customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them most,” Rue said.

“I offer my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and frie

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