Privacy concerns surrounding drones have been gathering momentum and as the debate ranges on, more apprehensions — especially those pertaining to safety — are rearing their ugly head as accidents due to an increase in errant drones.
Even as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gears up to enforce mandates for drones, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has claimed an unsuspecting victim. In an unfortunate accident, an 18-month old boy has been left partially blind thanks to an out-of-control drone.
Oscar Webb, a toddler from Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire in Britain, got injured when a drone belonging to a family friend went out of control after clipping a tree. The drone struck the boy in the face and ended up severing one of his eyes irreparably.
The propeller sliced little Oscar's eye into half after his neighbor Simon Evans lost control of the UAV. Evans was an experienced drone pilot and was flying the drone in his backyard.
"It was up for about 60 seconds. As I brought it back down for landing, it just clipped the tree and span round. The next thing I know I've just heard my friend shriek and say 'Oh God no' and I turned around and just saw blood and his baby on the floor crying," said Evans.
The accident occurred when Oscar was 16 months old, according to his mother Amy Roberts. The family was not aware of the safety hazards pertaining to drones.
While the surgeons did their best to perform several operations to save Oscar's injured eye, the damage by the drone was too grave.
Oscar will require a slew of operations before the doctors can fit him a prosthetic eye. The surgeon revealed that this was the first drone-pertaining accident she has seen, but with drones getting more popular such incidents may see a rise and become "inevitable," per the surgeon.
