An uncommon call to the Edmonton Police ended with a dramatic rescue in the English Channel.

A woman who lives in Edmonton called 9-1-1 about an emergency halfway around the world. Her brother and 50 other refugees, including women and children, were packed on an inflatable raft stranded in the English Channel.

The man was using Snapchat to contact his sister.

The group had left France an hour earlier and could see the lights of Dover on the English coast. But they were not making any headway.  The raft was floundering in choppy waters.

Back in Edmonton, the sister did the only thing she could think of.  She dialed 9-1-1. 

Becky Morrison, a supervisor in the EPS Emergency Communications Centre, says it’s natural for people to call their local police agency hoping for help because they don’t know who else to contact.

Emergency Communications Officer (ECO) Rebecca Stephen took the call. As the magnitude of the emergency became clear, she elevated it to her supervisor, Morrison.  

“With an international call, we have to assess each and every one as they come,” Morrison says. “They are fluid, never black and white, and require a lot of critical thinking.”

After gathering as much information as she could from the caller, Morrison contacted the RCMP and INTERPOL, the International Criminal Police Organization.

INTERPOL agencies in Paris and Manchester took immediate action.

“This event, the lives on the raft and the magnitude of danger they were in – I had to make sure it was just not a hand off of information or forgotten about,” Morrison says. “There is the moral obligation to do something, exhausting all avenues.  Which we did.”

The British Border Force vessel Ranger was launched in a desperate bid to find the raft using the location information provided by the brother over Snapchat.

Twelve hours after the original call came in, Morrison received confirmation from INTERPOL that all the refugees, including the caller’s brother, had been rescued and were on their way to England.

“It brought a sense of relief, pride, and true awe,” Morrison says. “It’s still hard to process the role we played in this event from so far away.”