A United Aircraft UAV during a mission to restore communication links in Zhuolu Township, Zhuolu County, Hebei Province.
A Shenzhen company established an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) rescue team overnight Tuesday and dispatched them to Zhuolu Township in Zhuolu County, Hebei Province, for a mission to restore critical communication infrastructure in flood-hit areas, Shenzhen Evening News reported Thursday.
This came after the Shenzhen-based firm, United Aircraft Group, had already delivered emergency supplies to Beijing’s Mentougou District the same day.
Lashed by days of torrential rain, vast swathes of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region had been inundated by mountain torrents, which caused blockage in main highways, water and power outages, and communication infrastructure collapse.
The affected Dahenan Village in Zhuolu Township had lost communication with the outside world for nearly two days, and ground-based rescue was difficult because the road surface had been seriously damaged, according to the News report.
The United Aircraft rescue team, undeterred by the adverse weather conditions, reached the affected village in just four hours Wednesday morning.
At around noon, the team deployed their TD220 unmanned helicopter, equipped with a base station, to hover at an altitude of 95 meters, promptly re-establishing vital communication links in the flood-hit regions.
“The TD220 can fly for over five hours and can withstand wind speeds of up to level 6 during takeoff and landing. It has a payload capacity of more than 50 kilograms, which perfectly matches the requirements for communication system restoration during flood relief and rescue missions,” Li Jun, head of United Aircraft’s Zhuolu emergency rescue project, was quoted as saying.
On Tuesday, a United Aircraft rescue team joined hands with the Blue Sky Rescue Team and firefighters to rescue trapped people in the flood-stricken Mentougou District. Dozens of kilograms of emergency supplies, including drinking water and food, were delivered to local people affected by the disaster.