In an astonishing display of innovation and courageous spirit, a local farmer utilized a heavy-lift farm drone for rescuing a stranded person on top of a building as the country witnessed severe flooding at Guangxi Province’s Sanjiang County. The daring rescue, which has been videoed and verified from agencies as far and wide as Beijing News, CCTV, Reuters, and The New York Times, has now gone viral around the world.
Torrential rains had lashed southern China for days, swelling its rivers and flooding whole neighborhoods. In Sanjiang County, one man found himself stuck on the roof of his two-story home as floodwaters hurtled by. Rescue boats could not reach him for fear of strong currents and structural failure.
That’s when Lai Zhongxin, a neighbor and experienced drone operator, stepped in.
“The water had reached a dangerous level. I feared the house might collapse, so I had to act.”
Lai told Beijing News.
Lai fashioned an improvised rescue harness from a sandbag, safety buckle, and rope and strapped it onto his heavy-duty farming drone normally used for dispersing fertilizer and hauling supplies. He guided the stranded man at long distance via phone on how to secure himself. The drone lifted the man up around 65 feet in just under two minutes and carefully made its way between trees and electrical lines before depositing him safely on another road.
A tweet from X.
Local media and the operator confirmed that the drone carried an estimated payload of approximately 100 kg (≈220 lbs), which is consistent with top-of-the-range models like the DJI Agras T100. Payloads of this kind are very realistic for professional drones for agriculture, but professionals recommend not generalizing.
“This shows what heavy-lift drones can do. But suspending a person midair was never part of their design.”
said industry analyst Louis Liu of DAP Technologies.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration prohibits carrying passengers via drones. Lai confessed breaking regulations but replied that it was done as an emergency method for saving life.
“Such a success should not obscure the risks. Special purpose rescue drones require certified harnesses, safety redundancies, and trained pilots. What Lai did was heroic but risky.”
Liu said.
Heavy rains have flooded Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Hainan since mid-June, and caused forced evacuations of thousands of people. The Ministry of Water Resources noted many rivers beyond danger levels, with emergency teams working at full stretch.
Drones are becoming more and more common in the area as they are utilized for supplying goods, disinfecting flood-affected areas, and for rescuing operations. In any case, this event constitutes one of the initial recorded examples of a civilian employing an agrarian drone for saving lives.
Guangxi rescue resembles drone technology’s life-saving function and regulatory dilemma with disaster relief. As floods caused by climate continue on the rise, China and other countries will have specialized rescue UAVs for airlifts of humans before long, predict experts.
“This is a glimpse of the future. “Drones can reach where boats and trucks cannot. But safety frameworks must evolve to keep pace.”
said Liu.
For Lai Zhongxin, the motivation was simple
“I just wanted to save him. Nothing else mattered at that moment.”
he told Beijing News.
