Eight-week-old baby who died in Optus triple-0 outage identified as independent review launched

The eight-week-old baby who tragically died during Optus’ 13-hour triple-0 blackout on Thursday has been identified, as the embattled telco reveals who will lead the independent investigation into the technical failure.

The outage started when the company conducted a firewall upgrade in South Australia around 12.30am that morning.

While regular calls remained unaffected, approximately 600 emergency calls to triple-0 were unable to connect. The disruption extended across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and New South Wales.

Among the reported fatalities during the outage was eight-week-old baby Ryan, the son of South Australian woman Chrisanya Seeby.

It is understood that the baby was at his grandmother’s house in Gawler West, 43km north of Adelaide, on September 18, when she attempted to call an ambulance after she realised her grandson was not breathing.

South Australian Police confirmed the grandmother initially tried to dial triple-0 using her mobile phone but was unable to connect. She then used another mobile device in the house and successfully reached emergency services.

“Preliminary investigations indicate the child’s death is not due to any delay in SA Ambulance Service attending the scene, despite the failure of the first attempt to call 000,” police said.

Tributes for baby Ryan have poured in across social media, with family and friends expressing their grief.

“My heart has been pretty heavy recently after the passing of my fiancé Rhiannon’s sister’s eight-week-old baby boy, our nephew Ryan,” wrote Tara Winston on Facebook.

“My heart lays with his family, especially his mother Chrisanya Seeby. You made a very sweet little boy who we will carry in our hearts forever.”

The post was met with an outpouring of support from friends and loved ones.

“I’m so sorry for both of your loses Tara, my heart is broken for you both. I’m always here if you need anything,” wrote one friend.

“Too good for this earth! What a little angel. So sorry for your loss. There are no words that will ease the pain you all are going through. Condolences to all,” said another.

Ryan’s mother also shared a heartfelt message, the Daily Mail reports: “(Rest in peace) Ryan, fly high buddy. Mummy loves you… forever eight weeks,” she wrote.

“I love you my angel.”

It remains unknown what caused baby Ryan’s death.

Independent investigation launched

Optus has now announced Dr Kerry Schott AO will lead an external review into the catastrophic outage linked to the deaths of two Perth men, aged 74 and 79, and a 68-year-old woman from Adelaide.

Dr Schott’s review will investigate the causes of the outage and examine the operational management of triple-0 calls on the Optus network.

It will also look at Optus’ response to the incident and whether it adhered to policies and legal requirements.

In a statement, board chairman John Arthur appeared to stand by embattled chief executive Stephen Rue, who is facing enormous pressure to stand down from his role.

“The Optus board is working with CEO Stephen Rue and his team to ensure we develop a full understanding of what went wrong and why, and what we need to do to prevent any repetition,” he said.

“In the interests of transparency - and to promote greater community understanding of what went wrong and why - we are committed to sharing the facts of the incident.”

But Optus faced a barrage of criticism following Thursday’s incident because it had not implemented a third of the recommendations from a similar incident in 2023.

Former chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned 12 days after that outage and an earlier hacking incident that left millions of customers exposed to potential online fraud.

- With AAP