A NORTH Belfast man has been left devastated after losing his drone in a Waterworks pond at the weekend.
Cavehill Road man John Carlin was in the popular beauty spot on Saturday afternoon when the incident happened.
John, who uses the device for personal videography, says human error resulted in the £,1000 drone crashing into the water.
John returned to the scene the next day in his swimming togs and got into the waters — which went up to his neck — in what proved a fruitless bid to recover the drone.
“I was looking for a big swerving shot but pressed down instead of up and it went straight into the water in the flash of an eye,” he said.
“There is a lesson in it for me for sure. I have a rough idea of about ten metre squared of where it is. I searched for it for about an hour but had no luck finding it. There is a lot of leaves and stuff which made it really difficult to try and look for it. I know its gone. I have accepted that now."
John says he was "devastated" by the accident.
“I have only flown it four times," he added. “My son thinks he would be able to repair it if we got it back but I would appeal to anyone who somehow comes across it to get in touch."
John didn't emerge from the water entirely empty-handed though - his upper body was covered in leeches which friends had to remove!
