Drone with radiation sign lands on roof of Japan PM Abe’s office

Drone with radiation sign lands on roof of Japan PM Abe’s office

Police and security officers investigate an unidentified drone which was found on the rooftop of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official residence in Tokyo

(Reuters) – A drone carrying a small camera, a water bottle and a flare and marked with a radioactive sign was found on the rooftop of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office on Wednesday, media reported.

The significance was not immediately clear, but a Japanese court on Wednesday approved the restart of a nuclear power station, rejecting worries about safety of nuclear power in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima radiation disaster.

Televised aerial footage from the scene showed what appeared to be a drone with propellers covered under cardboard and later a blue tarp. Dozens of police officers were seen crowding around the object.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said an official at the premier’s office found the drone and that the device was around 50 cm (20 ins) in diameter.

Abe is in Indonesia to attend an Asia-Africa summit. An official at the prime minister’s office declined to comment.

A small drone crashed in the grounds of the White House in January, raising pressure in the United States to clarify regulatory guidelines.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/22/us-japan-nuclear-drone-idUSKBN0ND09M20150422

Gary Mortimer

Founder and Editor of sUAS News | Gary Mortimer has been a commercial balloon pilot for 25 years and also flies full-size helicopters. Prior to that, he made tea and coffee in air traffic control towers across the UK as a member of the Royal Air Force.