An elderly patient was dramatically rescued thanks to the quick thinking of a firefighter who caught a crucial clue from the muffled voice in a 119 emergency call that abruptly disconnected after a single plea: "Please come quickly."

According to the Chungnam Fire Headquarters yesterday (August 10), a 119 emergency call was received in the early hours of July 31 at around 2:30 AM from the area of Hwangsan-ri, Ganggyeong-eup, Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province.

The caller did not state an address, leaving only the words "Please come quickly" before contact was cut off.

The 119 General Control Center immediately attempted to call back, but receiving no response, promptly initiated an emergency cell phone tower-based location tracking.

However, it was difficult to pinpoint the exact home address using tower tracking alone, and a search of previous emergency call records through the police security control center yielded no history for the caller.

In that urgent moment when the golden hour could easily have been missed, Firefighter Lee Se-hwa of the control center replayed the recording of the call.

As he repeatedly listened to the mumbled and unclear voice, a faint phrase caught his ear: "My blood pressure is dropping."

Suspecting the caller might be an elderly resident with a chronic illness, Firefighter Lee immediately contacted a nearby base hospital and checked the medical history using the caller's phone number.

Medical records were indeed found, and with the hospital's cooperation, the home's street-name address was secured.

The time elapsed from receiving the report to the emergency crew arriving at the scene and finding the collapsed patient was about 30 minutes.

At the time, the patient was conscious but complaining of severe dizziness, unable to move independently.

The caller received first aid at the scene and was transferred to a hospital.

Firefighter Lee advised, "If you experience physical abnormalities while alone, it is best to leave the front door open while you are still conscious," adding, "Even if it is difficult to state your street-name address, providing simple information such as an apartment name or nearby building is a tremendous help."

(Photo provided by Chungnam Fire Headquarters, Yonhap News)