Hospitalized after being slashed by drone blades while spraying pesticides

Doctors at E Hospital have just received and treated a 43-year-old male patient (Hanoi) who suffered a deep cut on his buttocks and lost a lot of blood due to a rare accident with a remote-controlled flying device - an agricultural drone while spraying pesticides.

Doctors at E Hospital examine patients after surgery - Photo: BVCC

The patient was admitted to the hospital with massive blood loss, with many large, jagged tears on both sides of his buttocks, signs of being repeatedly slashed by the fan blades.

Doctors quickly stopped the bleeding temporarily, cleaned and disinfected to prevent infection, then performed emergency surgery to avoid the risk of life-threatening hemorrhagic shock and infection.

Through medical history, the man said that while operating a remote-controlled pesticide spraying aircraft, the device suddenly malfunctioned and could not fly high even though the propeller was still spinning strongly.

Instead of stopping the device remotely or waiting for the fan to stop, the person approached to pull out the battery. While bending down to operate, the fan blade was still rotating at high speed and repeatedly slashed his buttocks, causing deep injuries and severe blood loss. Luckily, his family discovered it in time and took him to the hospital for emergency treatment.

According to Dr. Kieu Quoc Hien - Head of the Department of Orthopedic Trauma Surgery at E Hospital, this is the first time the hospital has received a case of severe trauma caused by a drone. The wound on the left side is 6 x 9cm wide, the wound on the right side is 6 x 10cm wide, quite complicated due to being slashed many times, with a high risk of infection because the field environment contains many bacteria and chemicals.

"Current agricultural drones have high power, the rotor speed is thousands of revolutions per minute, the cutting force is very strong, if in close contact it can cause muscle and tendon rupture, even endanger life," Dr. Hien warned.

During the surgery, the surgical team cleaned the crushed tissue, cut away necrotic tissue, continuously irrigated, restored multiple layers of sutures, and checked for vascular and nerve damage. Thanks to quick treatment, the patient's health is now stable.

According to Dr. Hien, the patient was lucky that the wound did not sever the sciatic nerve - the largest nerve that controls movement and sensation in the entire leg. If the fan blade had been cut just 1-2cm downward, it could have severed this nerve, leaving the patient permanently paralyzed or with difficulty walking.

Conversely, if the wound is displaced upward, it can also damage the superior gluteal nerve, leading to muscle weakness, abnormal gait, and body imbalance. These sequelae are very complicated, difficult to recover from, and have a long-term impact on quality of life.

From this incident, doctors recommend that people when using drones or remote-controlled agricultural equipment must strictly follow safety instructions and not approach the device until it is completely turned off. If subjective or ignorant, dangerous accidents can happen at any time, threatening the lives of the operator as well as those around them.

WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhap-vien-vi-bi-canh-quat-drone-chem-khi-dang-phun-thuoc-tru-sau-20250627151755916.htm