A Russian-made drone on its way to making its first parcel delivery crashed into a wall and crumbled to pieces in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on April 2, shocking local residents and regional officials at the scene.
The unmanned aerial vehicle was sent to deliver a small package to neighboring village in a ceremony meant to showcase a new way to deliver mail in the sparsely populated Buryatia region located more than 2734 miles east of Moscow.
“Delivery of mail with the help of drones between recipients and the post office is relevant and interesting for us. I am very happy that we are launching this project here today which should undoubtedly be successful,” CEO of Russian Post, Nikolay Podguzov, said prior to the the launch.
Video footage from the scene showed the drone lifting off from a miniature launch pad bearing Russian Post’s blue and white logo, buzzing through the air for several seconds before losing height and crashing into a three-story residential building in front of a small crowd of spectators who were heard uttering expletives.
No one was harmed in the incident, which left debris from the drone in pieces on the ground.
Russian Post was quick to distance itself from the drone crash, saying it was present at the launch merely as a guest. It said the drone was made by a company called Rudron/Expeditor 3M, which had organised the testing. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.
“We carried out an experiment, a hard landing took place because we decided to abort the flight. We will carry on working, we will analyse this negative result and draw conclusions for the future,” Podguzov said after the crash.
Russia’s postal service had announced plans in 2016 to start using drones for parcel deliveries across the vast country.
Logistics companies and retailers worldwide are starting to try out drones to reach remote customers or those paying a premium for speed.