Tag Archives: attempts
Chinese pig farm attempts to block criminal drones with signal jammer, accidentally disrupts planes
One of China's biggest animal feed producers resorted to using a radio transmitter to block drones being used by crooks to spread African swine fever at its farms. But the plan went awry when the device jammed the navigation systems of planes flying overhead. Criminals are said to be faking outbreaks of swine fever on farms, as well as using drones to drop contaminated pork products on them, as part of a racket to profit from the health scare. The aim is to force farmers to sell the animals to them cheaply, before selling them on as healthy stock at much higher prices. African swine fever poses no risk to humans but is fatal to pigs. China – the world's top producer and consumer of pork – has seen its pig herd shrink by 40 percent over the past year as a result of the crisis. That in turn has driven pork prices up, one of the factors behind the country's recent rapid inflation growth. Drones have allegedly been used to drop contaminated meat on pig farms Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer State-backed news website The Paper reported last week that a pig farming unit of Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group had violated civil aviation rules when the transmitter it installed to protect its farm disrupted GPS signal in the area. It was discovered after flights complained about losing signal while flying over the area. The company confirmed the incident on Friday. "To prevent external people from using drones to drop pork with African swine fever virus, [one of our units] violated regulations by using a drone control equipment set," the company said. "We broke related radio regulations, although that was unintentional," it said, adding that it had surrendered the equipment to authorities and was willing to accept a penalty. Authorities called for a crackdown on illegal suppliers of such equipment, saying it can only be used by public security departments, national security agencies and radio regulators.
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Fire foiled rescued attempts by California boat crew
The crew of a scuba diving boat that sank off the coast of Southern California made several attempts to rescue the 34 people who were trapped below decks by fire, but intense flames drove them back and all perished, federal authorities said Thursday. All those lost in the Labor Day tragedy aboard the Conception were sleeping in a bunkroom below the main deck when fire broke out around 3 a.m. The captain and four crew were above and survived, and one of the searing questions was whether they tried to help the others before saving themselves. The crew members told investigators in “very lengthy, detailed, comprehensive interviews” what Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, called a harrowing story of the moments after the fire erupted on the vessel.