Emergency numbers in Brazil
Police is 190, ambulance is 192, fire and rescue is 193. All three are free from any phone, including one with no credit and no local SIM. If you dial 911 or 112 out of habit, the call is routed to the same place.
Last checked:
The short answer
- 190
- Police, Polícia Militar. Crime in progress, theft, anything threatening.
- 192
- Ambulance, SAMU. Medical emergencies, free nationwide.
- 193
- Fire and rescue, Corpo de Bombeiros. Also water rescue and road accidents.
- 191
- Federal highway police, for anything on a federal road.
- 199
- Civil defence, for floods, landslides and storms.
- 911 and 112
- Both redirect to the Brazilian emergency lines. You are not lost if you dial them.
Which number, and what to say
The three you need are 190, 192 and 193. If you are not sure which, call 190: the police line is the busiest and the best staffed, and it will pass you on.
Operators mostly speak Portuguese only. Two words carry a long way. Say where you are first, the street and the city, then what has happened. "Acidente" is an accident, "assalto" is a robbery, "incêndio" is a fire, "ambulância" is an ambulance. Repeat the address twice, slowly. Location before explanation is the rule everywhere, and it matters more when you are working across a language.
If you are staying in a hotel or a lodge, calling reception is often faster than calling the service yourself. They know the address as it is written in the dispatch system, which is not always the address on your booking.
Where the numbers do not reach
This is the part most lists leave out. In the Pantanal, in stretches of the Amazon and on the long roads between them there is no mobile signal at all, and a number you cannot dial is not a plan.
That is one of the reasons our trips in those regions run with a guide who carries a satellite phone or a radio and who knows which fazenda, lodge or ranger post is nearest. Ask any operator you travel with what their plan is out there. If they do not have a clear answer, that tells you something.
If something is stolen
For a theft with nobody in danger, you do not call 190. You file a report, the boletim de ocorrência, which your insurer will want and which many states let you do online in English. Your accommodation can point you to the right one.
In the tourist areas of Rio, São Paulo, Salvador and a few other cities there is a dedicated tourist police unit, the Delegacia Especial de Atendimento ao Turista, with English speaking officers. If you are near one it is the easier door.
Cancel cards first, report second. That order costs nothing and saves the afternoon.
Common questions
Do the numbers work without a Brazilian SIM card?
Yes. Emergency calls go through on any phone with any network in range, including one with no SIM at all and one with no credit. You do not need a country code, just the three digits. We ask every guest to arrive with a data eSIM anyway, because everything in Brazil that is not an emergency happens on WhatsApp.
Will anyone speak English?
Assume not. The tourist police units in the big cities do, the general emergency lines mostly do not. Saying the address clearly in Portuguese numbers and street names gets further than a fluent explanation in English. On a trip with us the shortest route to help is your guide, who is reachable on WhatsApp throughout and makes the call in Portuguese.
Where this matters on a trip
Sources
Planning a trip to Brazil?
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