At least 5 killed after air dropped aid falls on them in Gaza | CNN

Tukma@lemmy.cafe to News@lemmy.world – 168 points –
At least 5 killed after air dropped aid falls on them in Gaza | CNN
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Aren't airdrops parachuted in? I'm not trying to be a dick, but people didn't have time to move out of the way?

The chutes didn't open. There's video. Having a heavy pallet crash through your roof can cause death. We're talking maybe half the weight of a car, traveling at faster than freeway speed.

Even the ones where the chutes deployed have to be still carrying a decent amount of energy given the speed they appeared to be dropping in the video I saw. Given the number of folks running to try to get to them I'm surprised MORE weren't injured.

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It's why I have trouble believing this even happened. It's absurd.

In a video obtained by CNN on Friday, an airdrop goes wrong when the parachute on a pallet malfunctions. The pallet and its contents can be seen falling at a high speed towards a residential building near the Fairoz Towers in western Gaza.

If it's what I imagine to be massive pallets of equipment, people could wrongly be under the impression that these drops will float down like feathers when in reality they're like a low-speed automobile collision. So as they approach the ground their speed and drift may catch some off-guard.

Additionally as the article points out, some drops have broken apart or their parachutes do not deploy.

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