South Africa use drone camera during practice, apologise later

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Dhaka, July 2: Cricket South Africa apologised today for using a drone camera during its practice session the previous day.

Last December, the Bangladesh civil aviation authority banned all unmanned aerial vehicles, which did not have prior permission, from its airspace for national security and general safety reasons.

Being unaware of that, South Africa's technical analyst, Prasanna Agoram, used the camera through a remote control to take an aerial view of the practice session, prompting an instant protest from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

"We were not aware that the drone camera should not be used without prior permission. We came to know it panicked the people. However we were unaware of the rules and expressed our regret to the BCB," said South Africa media manager Lerato Malekutu.

"The matter was finalised on the ground on Wednesday and nothing has happened afterwards." The BCB Chief Executive Officer, Nizamuddin Chowdhur, said the South African team was unaware of the security rules.

"In their country, there is no barrier to use drone camera but in Bangladesh it is strictly prohibited. And if anybody else wants to use it, they need to take the permission of civil aviation," he said.

"They were unaware of it. When we told them about the rules, they expressed their regret and instantly stopped using. It was over then. They don't use it further."

AP