News just came out from the northern coast of New South Wales in Australia that during the unveiling of a new drone that was being tested, Lifeguards received a distress signal that two boys, age 17 and 15, had been swept 700 meters out from the shore.
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The new drone was barely out of its box when it was immediately put to use to fly the drone above the heads of the two boys and drop a floatation device.
According to the news report, “A member of the public reported seeing the boys, and within two minutes the new drone had located the boys and dropped an inflatable flotation device to them.
The boys clung to the rescue pod and were able to swim to shore.”
According to The Verge, “A government official confirmed the rescue took only 70 seconds, compared to the average six minutes it would take for a lifeguard to reach the swimmers.”
The New South Wales government says the rescue was a world first. “Never before has a drone, fitted with a floatation device been used to rescue swimmers like this,” deputy premier John Barilaro said.
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The drone was manufactured by the company Little Ripper Life Saver and what a great opportunity to show off the potential of this life-saving device. The Australian Government announced last month that it would invest $430,000 in drone technology as part of a trial on the NSW north coast.
We at ImproDrone are very happy that those two boys are safe and this only shows the great things that can come with innovation in the Drone industry. Hopefully, such an amazing situation may spark other municipalities to further invest in life-saving innovations.
We at ImproDrone are very happy that those two boys are safe and this only shows the great things that can come with innovation in the Drone industry. Hopefully, such an amazing situation may spark other municipalities to further invest in life-saving innovations.