An emergency call placement method (300) used in user equipment in idle mode camped on a first cell of a wireless communication network having a first radio access technology includes the steps of requesting (316) a radio resource control connection using "emergency call" as an establishment request, changing (340, 350) to a new cell in a different location area or routing area than the first cell, and requesting again (316) a radio resource control connection using "emergency call" as an establishment request. This method avoids performing a location area update or a routing area update when the user equipment changes to a new cell during an emergency call and thus may speed up placement of the emergency call by several seconds.