Not quite Pamela Anderson in a red swimsuit, but a new generation of life saver.<br /><br /> On Cunit beach in Tarragonna in Catalonia, Spain, the local Civil Protection is working with new technology in the hope of saving lives. <br /><br /> The technology is a specially adapted drone.<br /><br /> The idea came from a local policeman who thought a drone could carry a flotation device to a person in distress. <br /><br /> The policeman is Daniel Olmo: “During the last drill we performed, the drone flew one and a half kilometres out to sea, dropped off the float exactly where we wanted, we watched the situation until the boat arrived and then it came back.”<br /><br /> The small flying machine uses three batteries, allowing it one hour of flying time, It can reach speeds of 70 km/h.<br /><br /> The drone heads directly to the person in danger and provides live images to help lifeguards and rescue operators make decisions about the rescue.<br /><br /> Vicente Luna, Chief of government rescue and emergencies team in Cunit:<br />“Now, from the very moment that any lifeguard warns us of any incident, the drone takes off immediately and goes to the point of the emergency; from then on, we can make an informed decision because we really know from minute one what the situation is. So that’s how I came to think that this was a good project, a good idea, and that we needed to make it work.”<br /><br /> The lifeguard drone now has the full backing of government rescue and teams in the area.<br /><br /> Cunit is the first village in the country to permanently adopt a surveillance scheme using the drone.<br />
