999

999 is an official emergency telephone number in a number of countries which allows the caller to contact emergency services for urgent assistance.

Countries and territories using 999 include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Ghana, Hong Kong, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, Qatar, Ireland, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe.

United Kingdom
999 is the official emergency number for the United Kingdom, but calls are also accepted on the European Union emergency number, 112. All calls are answered by 999 operators. Calls are always free.

Singapore
In Singapore, the number 999 continued to be used since independence, and was inherited from the colonial rule. The number is attributed more to requesting for the police, with the number 995, established in 1984, used for direct lines to the fire brigade and ambulance services of the Singapore Civil Defence Force. Because most of the population of Singapore is Chinese, it is likely that 995 was adopted because the Chinese pronunciation for that number (jiŭ jiŭ wŭ) sounds similar to the Chinese phrase for 'Save me' (jiù jiù wŏ).