Hyōgo man dies after collapse; emergency call delay linked to NTT outage

By Barrier Free Japan

September 18 2025

Hyōgo – NHK reported on September 17th that on the afternoon of the 16th, a man in his 50s was found collapsed in Itami City, Hyōgo Prefecture, and was transported to a hospital, where he was later confirmed dead. According to police, at the time there was a communication outage affecting NTT West, and it is believed that the emergency call was delayed. However, it is not known whether this was directly related to the man’s death.

At around 4:20 p.m. on the 16th, a 52-year-old employee was found collapsed on the premises of a company in Itami City. He was transported to a hospital in an unconscious state but was later confirmed dead. Police say that on the same day the man had complained of feeling unwell at work, and his death is thought to have been from natural causes.

The company president, who discovered the man, initially attempted to dial 119 on his mobile phone but was unable to connect, and so made the emergency request through the police instead. Police believe that the emergency request was delayed by about 15 minutes, but the connection to the man’s death is unknown.

At the time, an NTT West communication outage occurred not only in parts of Hyōgo Prefecture, including Itami City, but also across all of Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures. Landline and mobile phone communication became unavailable, and calls to emergency numbers such as 119 and 110 could not be connected.