Man spends 5 days in detention for drone filming of blast site

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A recent incident in which a man spent 5 days in a detention center after trying to film a blast site in north China’s Hengshui city with a drone has highlighted the issues of where a popular Chinese hobby meets legal safety concerns.

A deadly explosion occurred at a residential block in Hengshui on Saturday night, killing two and injuring one. Zhang soon learned about the accident and headed for the scene this next morning.

The explosion site in Fudongjiayuan Residential Block in north China's Hengshui city on January 7. /CFP Phots

Without a second thought, the hobbyist sent the camera drone into the sky above the explosion site, hoping to get his best shots of the day. His robot drone soon drew a crowd of curious onlookers and… some unexpected visitors as well – the police. Zhang was later given 5 days in detention for disrupting the rescue efforts and disturbing order in a public place.

Industry data shows China now has over 20,000 civilian drones. The flying robot’s growing popularity however has triggered some safety concerns, especially when at least half of them are thought to operating without a license.

A 2015 drone video showed a Chinese fighter jet narrowly avoided colliding with the camera drone when the drone was trying to film the jet making a landing.

Fazhi Wanbao Photo

Last year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued its first regulations to operate light-duty civilian unmanned aircraft, clarifying the dos and don’ts of flying an “unmanned aircraft”. But the difficulties in tracking the drones and the owners have left many of the machines loosely supervised.

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