An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle belonging to the Indian Navy crashed during a routine surveillance sortie on Tuesday morning in Kochi, minutes before Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was to arrive at the Navy airport, Manorama reported.
The UAV crashed shortly after taking off near the Southern Naval Command close to Willingdon Island around 10.25 am. It was a remotely piloted aircraft, which crashed after it failed to attain the expected height, an official Navy statement said, according to The Hindu.
The vehicle crashed close to a facility that stores potentially explosive compounds, including diesel, but a major flare up was avoided and no casualties have been reported, the Manorama report said.
The Navy said a board will investigate the cause of the accident.
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