Drones to be used in desperate rescue attempt
MADRID: Drones may be used to rescue three dogs trapped by a volcanic eruption on the Canary island of La Palma.
Spanish officials have permitted a drone operator to try to save the dogs which are surrounded by molten lava from the eruption that started a month ago.
They have been stranded in an abandoned yard, surviving on food and water dropped to them by drones.
Aerocamaras, a company that operates drones, said it had been granted permission to make a rescue attempt.
Chief executive Jaime Pereira said he planned to send a 50kg drone with a wide net to trap the dogs one by one and fly them 540m, over the flowing lava and to safety.
“It’s the first time an animal is being rescued with a drone and the first time it has to be captured,” Mr Pereira said.
“If that’s the last option that the dogs have, then we’re going after them.”
No one has been able to reach the dogs so far, and helicopters are banned from the area as hot gases can damage their rotors.
The drone operator will have just four minutes to lure a dog to the net and a further four minutes to fly it out from Todoque, one of the first places to be devastated by the lava streams from the volcano on the Cumbre Vieja.