Drone crashes in Romania’s northeast Suceava County, no damage or casualties reported

According to the Defense Ministry, the drone entered the national airspace for about four minutes, then crashed near the locality of Solca, Suceava County, without causing casualties or material damage.

Two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, on Air Policing combat duty, took off from Borcea 86th Air Base to monitor the situation.

Locals found the debris and filmed the drone during its flight and the wreckage, according to Digi24.

Intervention teams of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived at the scene afterwards, secured the perimeter, and identified a small drone, with no fire at the crash site. Also, at 07:21, an IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter took off from Bacău 95th Air Base to monitor the situation in the area.

Schools in four localities in the area suspended classes until 10 AM as a result of the drone crash, following a recommendation issued last week by the Ministry of Education and the Department of Emergency Situations.

This is the third RO-ALERT message regarding drones issued in the counties of northern Moldavia in the past two weeks. Another alert was issued for Botoșani County on the same day, after the MApN radars detected a target flying over Ukrainian territory, near the border with Romania.

“RO-ALERT: Extreme Alert. Air raid warning (possible drone incursion). Remain calm! Take shelter in basements or civil protection shelters. In the absence of a shelter, remain inside the house, away from windows and exterior walls,” was the message sent by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations in Botoșani County.

A Ro-Alert message had previously also been issued in northern Tulcea County.

“During the night of September 23 to 24, the radar surveillance system of the Ministry of National Defence detected a group of aerial targets operating north of the locality of Chilia Veche, on Ukrainian territory, near the border with Romania,” the MApN said.

Two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Force, on Enhanced Air Policing combat duty, took off from Mihail Kogălniceanu 57th Air Base to monitor the situation in Tulcea. Ultimately, no entries into the national airspace were reported, and the air raid warning for northern Tulcea County was lifted at 5:44 AM.

Since the start of the war, drones have illegally entered Romanian airspace 47 times. Four of them were downed.