B757-200
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types
General Declared Emergency
Procedure; Aircraft; Human Factors; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
I relieved the RADAR Controller at Sector XX prior to incident. While working the sector; a B757 called and we had to locate him as he had been handed of to another sector. The B757 called a couple more times but was almost unreadable. The B757 declared an emergency [while] we were on the line with Sector YY to coordinate the emergency status. The Sector YY Controller was busy and it took us approximately 10 to 15 seconds to coordinate with him. I changed the range on my scope to depict the B757 at which time the B757 said he was starting his descent and the [Sector] XX Controller was talking to Sector YY so I (comm) changed the B757 to Sector YY. Better radios would make a big difference.
I was working Sector (XX) D-Side when the B757 called on frequency requesting a descent. There was no track in our airspace for the aircraft so I searched using URET and found that the aircraft was under the next sector's control. As I was doing this; the pilot declared an emergency and advised us that he was descending. I immediately called Sector YY RADAR Controller and said 'break for control' a couple of times. I got his attention and informed him that the B757 was an emergency and was descending. During this; the RADAR Controller switched the aircraft to the appropriate frequency. Apparently the aircraft had transitioned through the sector before both the RADAR Controller and I had sat down.
Enroute Controller described an emergency event involving confusion with regard to the aircraft's position and sector responsibility.