The Police control room received more than 400,000 112 calls in 2016 – 407,130, to be precise.

As expected, the summer months were the busiest, with over 37,000 calls received in July alone.

These details were given earlier today by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela during an educational event held at the Xemxija Fire Station.

School children met with members of the Police Force, the Armed Forces of Malta and the Civil Protection Department and learned about responsible use of the emergency number.

Mr Abela said the government will continue to strengthen the 112 service because it wanted people to be assured of an adequate response in case of an emergency.

He announced that the government will soon launch a 112mt mobile application.

The minister said most emergency calls last year were related to calls for medical assistance, traffic accidents, fires and rescue scenarios.

Of notable concern were the 4,713 hoax calls received in 2016. Emergency room controllers were often subjected to abuse, apart from having their time wasted.

There were also 18,102 wrong number calls. “Wrong calls can block genuine calls in a life or death situation,” Mr Abela warned.

The minister said children can also help save a life. Should they have to call 112 they should remain calm and give precise information, especially when it comes to the location.”