welcomed the launch of an initial inquiry into an alleged 40-minute delay between 911 calls being made and an ambulance being dispatched.

Dean Antoine Young, 31, died following a fight in the early hours of October 9 last year after receiving 23 wounds.

And during the trial of his killer Randy Burgess two weeks ago, it was revealed that a number of witnesses, including Burgess himself, had dialled the 911 control room sometime after 2.30 a.m. requesting an ambulance.

However the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital claimed it did not receive a request from the control centre for an ambulance to be sent to Parsons Road, Pembroke, until 3.09 a.m. -- nearly 40 minutes later.

Hospital chiefs said an emergency team was sent to the scene immediately after they received the request.

Mr. Young was certified dead on arrival at the hospital around 3.25 a.m.

He had suffered a fatal stab wound through his back, which punctured a lung and resulted in massive blood loss.

Last night, Minister for Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Paula Cox said she had asked the co-ordinator of the Ministry's security services to gather documentation on the claims.

If, within the next few weeks, it is revealed that the allegations of a 40-minute delay are founded, she will launch a full Ministerial inquiry.

911 inquiry launched Mr. Young's mother Carolyn, who lives in Somerset, said she was glad an inquiry had been launched.

She said she had already been to an attorney in a bid to get to the bottom of the allegations and would not rest until she knew the truth.

"Without doubt, an inquiry should be held to find out what happened,'' she said.

"I do not want to create any problems. I just want to know why it took so long for the message to get through that an ambulance was needed.

"I want somebody to tell me how many 911 calls were made and at what times.

There are questions to be answered and somebody, somewhere should be able to answer them.'' Mrs. Young said she was slowly beginning to rebuild her life after the death of Dean, who had a four-year-old son Shiloh, and knew that no amount of investigations would bring her son back.

But she added: "If there is a flaw in the system, it needs to be corrected.

It could have happened before and it could happen again.

"We are not saying that Dean would have lived if the ambulance had arrived sooner, we don't know that. But it may have allowed us at least to see him before he died.

"The point is that we will never know.'' Ms Cox said she was concerned about the allegations and keen to establish if there was any truth in them.

She added: "I have asked that a preliminary internal inquiry be initiated, so we can look at the documents.

"As a result, one will then look and see what that reveals and whether a full scale Ministerial inquiry needs to be launched.

"I think it would be premature for me to pre-empt or prejudge, but clearly there is an issue here from a public safety point of view if the allegations were found to be founded.'' She said the 911 system was a year old and was installed on a pilot basis, with constant monitoring taking place to establish how well it worked.

She added that a steering group had been in place for some time to look at how well it worked and how, if necessary, it could be improved.

But she said she believed there was no reason why a first-class emergency 911 system could not be delivered using the existing mechanisms.

Shadow Health Minister Kim Young, who called for an inquiry into the alleged delay a fortnight ago, said last night the issue should not be left to rest until all the questions were answered.

She added: "This inquiry is so important. If there is a problem in requesting an ambulance it could make a difference between life or death.

"It is crucial that this issue is followed through to the end.

"If we are going to have a 911 system it must work.''