It was a call to 911 that Sylvia Luck says went unanswered. 

She watched as her 18 month old nephew Elija struggled to stay alive. Luck says she called the emergency number at about 8'oclock Tuesday night. Luck says she was told help was on the way, however, after twenty agonizing minutes, there was still no ambulance. Luck's neighbor called 911 instead. EMS arrived shortly after, but it was too late. Baby Elija had passed away.

City records show the call came in at about 8:43 pm. The ambulance arrived 5 minutes and 43 seconds later.
Curtis Brochu, Manager, Public Safety Communications says the family first called 911 using a Voice Over IP or VOIP phone. The phone system uses the internet to make a connection, and that could have been the problem.
"In this particular case the family did place a call, they dialed 911 that did get them to a internet provider," says Brochu. "What we don't have at any point is a record of receiving a call from their contact centre."
Brochu says with a standard landline, calls go directly to the Calgary 911 centre. When a VOIP phone is used, the 911 call goes to a VOIP centre, which is supposed to relay the information to Calgary 911. However the city says that didn't happen.

Luck is convinced her young nephew would sill be here today if her calls for help were answered the first time. 
 "I'm sure he would have lived, he would have lived..."

For the full details on this tragedy, visit our web clip.