It was late afternoon on October 31st when the 112 call center received a call to assist a pair of Swiss climbers/climbers who had found themselves at the bottom of the Gorgopotamos Gorge. The couple was descending a canyon in Gorgopotamos, in a canyon that is considered the most difficult in Greece and one of the most difficult in Europe to descend. From the first moment of the call, the Fire Department was informed by 112, while through the geo-location feature provided by the call, the forces participating in the rescue operation were able to immediately locate the callers in order to start the rescue operation.

A total of 25 firefighters participated, while men from the 7th EMAK (Solid Greece) immediately rushed to the scene. At the same time, assistance was requested from the neighboring 1st EMAK (Attica) and 8th EMAK (Thessaly), members of the Mountaineering Search and Rescue Teams (ROED) who rushed to the spot. Firefighters initially approach the closest possible point above the canyon, but the difficult and steep terrain leads them to use Fire Department drones to locate the couple. Although ground forces were on alert and ready to crash on the scene and attempt a ground pull with ropes, it was judged that too many hours would be required. For this reason, air assistance was also requested at the same time, but this was not possible that afternoon/evening due to conditions (fog/darkness).

At dawn the next day, the pilot-governor, Christos Cancelas is notified of the event. After he looks at the route, coordinates and weather, together with the co-pilot Athanasios Tsimilekas, and the rescuers, go with the Fire Department’s Super Puma to the scene. Arriving, however, they realize the difficulties of the operation as the canyon was very narrow and the point where the couple was very deep.

The girl had been injured in the leg but both were in good health as they were experienced climbers who had the necessary supplies and equipment with them and were thus able to spend the night safely at the site despite the adverse conditions. After passing the helicopter 3 times over the canyon, they spot the couple. “We had a lot of difficulty because the canyon was very narrow and deep. From what I remember we went up and down the canyon 2-3 times until we could locate the people and we told EMAK who was in the area if she could contact them and tell them that when they hear the helicopter and see it because it was quite big the depth, to take something out and move it so that we too can spot them. On the third walk we did see something moving, a yellow object. We were able to spot them, we went above it, it was very narrow, the people were at the bottom of the canyon. We winched the rescuers down as there was no room to land. The rescuers went, found the people, brought them to a more accessible place and after preparing them we returned again and in the same way we brought them up”, pilot-governor Christos Kanzelas describes to APE-MPE, while adding that it was a difficult operation as the couple was at the bottom of the canyon. The helicopter then takes the Swiss couple to the KEYP Lamia heliport, from where they were picked up by an ambulance and transported to the Lamia Hospital.

Residents of the area and experienced mountaineer volunteers who knew the place, among them the private abseiling instructor Giorgos Andreou, rushed to the side of the firefighters to support their work from the first moment.

The above case is not unusual for the agencies involved in search and rescue operations. It is not the first time that 112 has received such a call for assistance, offering the competent agencies the possibility of precise geolocation. On average, the European Emergency Number receives 8,000-14,000 calls per day, while thousands of messages are also received. In the context of the European Day for 112, people who make up the service talk about the course of 112 in Greece and the interoperability between the agencies that the number ensures.

“Since 2020, 112 has been transformed, it has become a multi-channel means of communication between citizens and emergency responders and vice versa through familiar messages. What most citizens don’t know is the incoming part, the possibility that someone can call 112 for example in a traffic accident thus eliminating the need to get into the dilemma of calling the police, the Fire Department, the EMS. By calling 112, the citizen notifies four operators at the same time, thus providing great convenience. At that moment when the citizen calls us and only when the citizen calls us respecting privacy, a technology has been developed that enables us to know the wider area from which he is calling us and within a few seconds with the use of smart phones we can we locate him precisely. This is very important especially when the citizen does not know exactly where he is, especially in non-urban areas, where there are various place names, which are often not known even to the first responders. Such technology is very important in search and rescue situations, it’s impressive and it’s something that impressed even the first responders themselves when we activated it back in 2020. In fact, we were one of the first countries in the world to activate it for all types of mobiles devices and we have even activated it for roamers in the case that they have an android phone”, notes the APE-MPE Firefighter at Vassilis Kazoukas Fire Department.

As he explains the accuracy and ability to geolocate plays a very important role as 112 has been called for various search and rescue incidents where the location was unknown and not at all specific. “Furthermore, geolocation is not only applied to calls from mobile phones, but also to messages,” emphasizes Mr. Kazoukas and adds that at the start of the 112 operation, they tried to emphasize people with disabilities. “You can contact 112 at the same time by SMS. This SMS is geolocated, so a person with a disability can use this communication channel, the text message, to contact 112”, he points out and adds that the aim is to start the first tests with video calls in 2024 in order to be able to cover cases signification while “long before the deadlines set by the EU for the possibility to communicate with real time text another technology… With the best possible means to be able to communicate with the citizens”, underlines Mr. Kazoukas.

With more than 20 years of experience, Mr. Kazoukas emphasizes that 112 is a project that constantly needs to be in the process of upgrading, which is what is happening.

“A system that has started has stopped and started again needs upgrades, and when we talk about cutting-edge technologies, these upgrades cannot stop,” he notes, adding that emphasis has been placed on multi-channel communication in order to serve people with disabilities. “In addition to the management of daily incidents and calls with the aim of more immediate and better transmission of information to the first responders, we put a lot of emphasis on multi-channel communication in order to serve people with disabilities as well as how we can better serve foreign speakers”, he emphasizes.

“We try for every call to have a successful outcome, unfortunately not all of them do, this is a reality. We are trying to do the best from our side but what shows me a way is to see how we can optimize these technologies so that we can give emphasis and equal rights to people with disabilities”, notes Mr. Kazoukas.

In the “headquarters” of 112 the deputy policeman and 112 shift coordinator Andreas Sipsas together with the rescuer and crew member of the EKAV Sophia Angelopoulou, perform their 24-hour shift. They are some of the links of ELAS and EKAB so that they can respond more directly and faster to any needs that arise. As they note in APE-MPE, one of the biggest advantages of 112 is that it enables the interoperability of agencies, the joint coordination of the police, the Coast Guard, the Fire Brigade and the EMS.

“This is the main part and the quality of 112 that all agencies can be coordinated, i.e. the EMS, the Police, the Coast Guard and the Fire Brigade for an incident together. For example, in the case of a traffic accident, the citizen does not need to call either 100 or 166 separately”, says Mr. Sipsas to APE-MBE and adds: “if we have a traffic accident which includes an injury for the specific incident in addition to the traffic accident we should also call EKAV to transport the person to the hospital. When the citizen calls 112, we don’t waste any time. A meeting is held between the agencies wherever the citizen is, the agencies agree with each other and it takes place immediately. In other words, precious time is not lost with the meeting”, and he adds that in the same incident the Fire Brigade may also be needed if it is necessary to extricate the citizen, so in this case there is a meeting of all three agencies.

Regarding incidents such as fires and floods, as Mr. Sipsas notes, 112 contributes catalytically to both prevention, warning and preparedness. “112, in addition to the part of the call center – is also the part with the mass warning messages which in the event of a fire you either warn people or tell them to move away from a point and most importantly towards which to move away en masse”, he underlines .

“Amidst all this destruction that took place in the summer, the events in the rest of Greece do not mean that they stop because 112 is nationwide, so we have to manage all the calls regardless of whether there is any other crisis”, emphasizes Mr. Sipsas, describing a incident with a pregnant woman in Attica who urgently had to go to the hospital because she was giving birth. “EKAB and the Police cooperated on the spot through 112 and the conference call. The police were helping by clearing the way for the ambulance to pick her up as quickly as possible so the woman could go to the nearest hospital so she could give birth. He went to the hospital and everything went well. It was something pleasant in the bad climate that prevailed in the summer”, notes Mr. Sipsas.

For her part, Mrs. Angelopoulou emphasizes: “Since 112, we have won the simultaneous meeting of all agencies, that is, for an emergency that puts the world at risk, time is gained that can save lives. Whatever this is, it may not involve the police but the fire department. It may concern EKAB. In addition, the message keeps people ready, updated immediately and in a relative readiness. Depending on the House we are in, we also call the corresponding body in the area. Since 2020 when 112 was actively entered, we have an increasing trend in terms of incidents, there is a variety of incidents from the very simple, such as information to the very serious,” and adds that citizens need to learn 112 as valuable time is saved.