Had exactly the same thing in Australia when trying a 000 (Australia's emergency number) call with my Pixel 6 Pro after watching somebody run off the road and smash into a pole.

Fortunately I had the local police station number and was able to call that just fine, but not until a few failed attempts at the real emergency number.

That said, another good option is attempting to call 112. Which is an emergency number in many countries. (Works in the US too).

But yeah, it's not good.