UAV on aerial survey crashes in Nalgonda district, causes commotion

Nalgonda: A crashed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), found in agricultural farm land, has caused panic among the villagers of Saha in Shaligouraram mandal of Nalgonda district.

According to reports, a goat rearer who was grazing his goats in the village, found a crashed unmanned aerial vehicle in agricultural farm land. Initially, he mistook the unmanned aerial vehicle for an aeroplane. He later informed his son over the phone about the ‘suspicious object’. Upon receiving the information, a few youths also reached the spot and alerted the police.

Sub-Inspector Satish, along with his team, inspected the object that was equipped with a SIM card, camera, GPS and battery. The police said that the UAV, which resembled an airplane drone, was five-foot-long weighing around 15 kgs. The police also alerted the bomb squad which reached the spot and carefully examined the suspicious object. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when the bomb squad declared that there were no traces of explosive materials in it. Later, the police shifted the UAV to the police station.

Even as the investigation was on to establish the identity of its owners, two persons, Tushar and B Jagadeesh, on Monday approached the police claiming that the unmanned aerial vehicle was owned by their company. The duo told the police that they were conducting an aerial survey with the help of the UAV for a proposed gas pipeline between Kakinada and Gujarat. However, they lost signal of the drone since Sunday morning, they told the police. They submitted the requisite documents to establish their company’s ownership of the UAV.