Russian postal drone spectacularly crashes into building in debut

It was meant to be a monumental occasion - a Russian-made drone on its way to making a debut parcel delivery.

Crowds gathered in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude yesterday as a small package was placed into the unmanned aerial vehicle.

It was en route to a neighbouring village in the sparsely-populated Buryatia region, more than 4400km east of Moscow.

There were handshakes and excited looks as regional officials vacated a miniature launch pad bearing Russian Post’s blue and white logo for lift off.

The drone buzzed through the air for several seconds before quickly losing height.

Then there were gasps from the crowd as it flew straight into a nearby three-storey building, crashing into pieces on the ground below.

Russia’s postal service had announced plans in 2016 to begin using drones for parcel deliveries.

But Russian Post quickly distanced itself from the crash yesterday, saying it was present at the launch merely as a guest.

The company said the drone was made a another company called ‘Rudron/Expeditor 3M’.

Head of the Buryatia region Alexei Tsydenov said more than 100 Wi-Fi connections in the area could have disrupted the drone’s flight.

“We won’t stop with this, we’ll keep trying," he said.

With Reuters.