We rarely discuss the times drones save lives since their inception, and this post will try to do justice to that.
Introduction
Recall “127 Hours?” A movie about a mountain climber who was trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah, and resorts to desperate measures to survive for 127 hours until he was rescued. If drones were to be available then, he would not have been in such a situation for such a long time.
So much information can be found on the internet about drones, their features, prices, pros, and cons. However, the publicity these unmanned ariel vehicles have gotten in the last decade has been more good than bad. Why is that? Well, this article will not be exploring that for now. Instead, I will be sharing five beautiful times drones have saved lives. Let’s get right to it!
#5 North Koreans Rescued by Drones In China
Three North Korean soldiers were stranded near Liangshui, a Chinese territory, and were unable to return to their base due to the high tides of the river. The North Korean government sought help from China, sending boats to rescue the soldiers.
However, these efforts were unsuccessful as the strong river currents swept away the rescue boats. The search party of ten men sent afterward also did not find the soldiers. After two hours of searching, drones were deployed and were able to locate and rescue two men and a woman.
#4 Drones were Used to Deliver Drugs and Essentials in Ghana During COVID-19 Lockdown
2020 was a memorable year in the world’s history as different catastrophic events that shook the world occurred. While COVID-19 spread through countries like wildfire, and panic set in, it was like doomsday when governments around the world announced the lockdown. There were a series of predictions that Africa will take the most hit when COVID-19 reaches its peak. But that was not the story!
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the use of new technologies in many countries to combat the virus. One such example is the use of drones to deliver vaccines in Ghana. A US firm Zipline delivered COVID-19 vaccines to remote areas in West Africa for the first time. Zipline, which began transporting blood and drugs in Rwanda in 2016, expanded to Ghana in 2019 and the US in 2020. In May 2020, the company delivered medical supplies and PPE to North Carolina. Now, Ghana’s government has enlisted Zipline to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines supplied to Africa by the COVAX initiative, a project backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide access to vaccines for developing countries. The CEO of Zipline, Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, said that Ghana was chosen for the vaccine delivery because of its strong application and ability to guarantee low-cost, reliable delivery of the vaccine to any hospital or health facility in the country.
US firm Zipline has used drones to make over 50,000 deliveries, including more than one million vaccines, in Ghana since 2019, reaching about a third of the country’s population. The company’s drones can deliver to hospitals and temporary mobile clinics in remote areas and can transport the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which only requires regular refrigeration at 2-8°C. The drones can travel at 100 km/h and take around 30-40 minutes on average to complete each delivery, using passive refrigeration to maintain the desired temperature of the vaccines. The pandemic has highlighted the benefits of Zipline’s technology, particularly its ability to operate with minimal human interaction.
#3 Construction Workers Were Saved By Drones
Saying goodbye with the hope of getting back to meet your family and loved ones, is a normal feeling until you have the knowledge you will not be coming home ever again to see those you left back home. Imagine the overwhelming sadness that would have overcome the 14 households these men came from if they had lost their lives.
On a rainy night in November 2015, a group of construction workers in China found themselves stranded on a bridge, surrounded by rising water. After three hours of being trapped, wet, cold, and hungry, they called for help. Emergency teams were deployed, but the rough terrain and wild water made it impossible for rescue boats to reach them.
That’s when someone had an idea: use a drone to deliver supplies to the men. At the time, there were no drones available for emergency services, but the town mayor knew of a local tax office worker who was an avid drone enthusiast. Mr. Wei packed up his drone and drove to the scene, using it to fly equipment and food to the stranded workers. It took six trips for the drone to deliver all the necessary resources, but eventually, at midnight, the flood subsided enough for a full rescue to be launched. All 14 trapped people were safely escorted to safety.
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#2 Rescued By A Drone After Suffering A Heart Attack While Shovelling Snow
https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2356814&jwsource=cl
Dr. Mustafa Ali was driving through the city of Trollhattan in Sweden when he saw a 71-year-old man collapse on the ground, shoveling snow outside his house. Ali quickly sprang into action and rushed over to the man, performing CPR on him after determining that he had no pulse. He asked a bystander to call for an ambulance and continued CPR until help arrived.
While they waited for the ambulance, a drone flew overhead and dropped a defibrillator, which Ali used to restart the man’s heart. The ambulance crew arrived soon after and took the man to the hospital for further treatment. Fortunately, the man made a full recovery and was able to return home. According to Everyone, the drone delivery of the defibrillator took just over three minutes.
#1 A man And His Dog Was Rescued After Hurricane Matthew
After Hurricane Matthew hit the coast of North Carolina, the town of Hope Mills was flooded and residents were forced to stay home. Guavas Hart, a filmmaker and drone owner, flew his drone over the neighborhood and saw the streets were flooded, resembling Venice, Italy. He posted a picture of the flooded neighborhood on Twitter and was contacted by a man from Texas who recognized his brother’s house in the photo.
Chris was trapped inside with his dog Lana. Quavas planned to use his inflatable boat to rescue Chris, but saw a rescue boat nearby and used his drone to guide them to the right house. Chris and Lana were successfully rescued.
