Three-year-old child injured after trying to catch drone flown in park

The drone, not the one pictured, was being flown in a park when it attracted the attention of a group of children

A three-year-old child was taken to hospital after being cut by the rotor blades of a drone flown in a Nottinghamshire park.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the child jumped up and tried to catch the unmanned flyer in Welfare Park, Huthwaite, on 16 April.

The child suffered cuts to the face.

An AAIB report said the 45-year-old pilot accepted he should not have been flying the device close enough for it to be caught by the child.

The child was injured in Welfare Park in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire

An investigation found the drone was flown over the heads of a group of children on a patch of open ground after they "took an interest" in it.

After the pilot steered the vehicle "a few feet above their heads" they started to chase it, when the three-year-old jumped up and managed to touch the rotor blades.

"[The drone] briefly lost height and its blades struck the child, making two significant cuts on their face as well as smaller cuts to their nose, chin and fingers," the AAIB said.

"The pilot reported being surprised when the child jumped up and reflected that, in hindsight, he should not have been flying [it] in the area."