Drone is converted into a flying flamethrower to destroy 100 wasp nests

A drone has been converted into a flying flamethrower at a cost of £9,200 in a dramatic Chinese campaign to destroy 100 wasp nests. 

Blue Sky Rescue, a volunteer group and China‘s largest non-governmental humanitarian organisation, has teamed up with villagers in Zhong county near the city of Chongqing.

The group raised 80,000 yuan (£9,200) to buy the drone and fit it with a gasoline tank and an arm-length nozzle.

Footage released by Blue Sky shows rescue workers preparing the six-arm drone before it spirals up to the hive in the tree. 

The video shows the drone parallel to the nest, which is the size of a suitcase, before the operator flips the ignition switch and the nozzle spits bursts of fire onto the hive.

‘The burning ashes of the wasp’s nest gradually peeled off and fell, and the surrounding residents applauded and praised the rescue team,’ said an article on a local news app run by state-owned Chongqing TV. 

The publication also quoted a resident who thanked Blue Sky for helping the village: ‘Now we don’t have to worry about being stung by a wasp.’

In 2013 wasp stings claimed 19 lives in the Ankang, Shaanxi province, according to China Daily. 

Doctor Guo Dongyang of the nephrology department of the General Hospital of Chengdu Military described how the death rate for wasp stings is relatively high because people in remote areas are unable to seek treatment. 

He explained how people may ‘suffer renal failure, liver failure and cardiac injury’ and potentially die within ‘one or two hours’ if treatment is not administrated promptly. 

Blue Sky said it has destroyed 11 hives so far and there are more than 100 to go.