Rescue drones to be used in Lake Balaton area – video

Three special rescue drones were introduced on Friday in Balatonfüred. Two of them is going to do exploration and searching tasks while the third one will carry an inflatable life belt. They will help the work of the authorities making Balaton the safest lake in the region.

From June 21 three rescue drones will serve the safety of the Balaton area – announced the Hungarian Telekom and the Water Rescue Services of Hungary. According to napi.hu, they have been preparing for the inauguration of the drone fleet for long.

Two of the drones are of the DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual type equipped with thermal sensors. They will help the water rescue services in

exploration and search missions.

Meanwhile, one of them is a DJI Phantom 4 Advanced carrying a Restube inflatable life belt. The special release system developed by the experts of Duplitec was made by 3D printing technology and is able to bring the lifebelt where it is needed most. In fact, the flying range of the drones is 5-8 km.

The future plans of the Hungarian Telekom and the water rescue services contain the creation of drone system

covering the whole area of  Lake Balaton.

Thanks to their communication system and advanced cameras, the DJI Mavic2 drones are able to take and forward in real time high-resolution HD photos even from 8 km. The drones are able to search even the reeds which is much more difficult by using only conventional methods. If needed the photos they take can be easily forwarded to the water rescue or other authorities.  Since they are

equipped with strong loudspeakers

rescue services can help people in trouble by giving orders through them. Live stream provided by the drones can help authorities to decide whether help is really needed or not. This is because it happens many times that for people it is hard to distinguish between a paddle boat in trouble or an island of feather reed grass.

Sándor Bagyó, chairman of the Water Rescue Services of Hungary, said that the drones will help the work of the 200 water rescuers and the staff of the 8 rescue ships being in service during the summer season on Lake Balaton. Drones can contribute a lot to prevention, as well. For example, they can be used to warn swimmers approaching a danger zone. Like other drones, these ones are also very sensitive to strong winds so they cannot be used during storms.

Bagyó said that in 2018 summer they had to help in 3,600 cases while rescue ships were used 100 times.  

István Bóka, mayor of Balatonfüred, said about Balaton that thanks to the drones and the coordinated safety system created before it has become the safest lake in the region.

Source: napi.hu