AFP reporting birdstrike downs Pakistani UAS

Gary Mortimer

A Pakistani surveillance navy drone crashed near an oil refinery after hitting a bird on a routine flight, coming down in the country’s largest city of Karachi on Tuesday, the navy said, AFP reports.

“A Pakistan Navy UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) crashed after a bird hit it. It fell near an oil refinery and there was no (other) damage,” Commodore Irfan Ul Haq, spokesman Pakistan Navy told AFP in Islamabad.

Fellow navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali told AFP that there were no casualties and that the drone had been on a surveillance flight when a bird accidentally flew into the aircraft and it came down in the Karachi suburbs.
Pakistan’s military is known to operate surveillance drones but the United States operates a drone missile war in the country’s Northwestern border areas with Afghanistan, targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

The News adds

KARACHI: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of Pakistan Navy has crashed inside Korangi oil refinery here Tuesday, Geo News reported.According to Pakistan Navy sources, the UAV named ‘Uqab’ crashed in the refinery vicinity following bird hit. The craft was on usual training mission, sources added.

Fire erupted in the refinery after the crash, however, no casualty has been reported, police sources said.

Shortly after the accident, ambulances and fire brigades reached at the site while police has cordoned off the area.

It is pertinent to note that the refinery area is a no fly zone.