NANNING, China – Emergency rescue teams in Guangxi deployed heavy-lift commercial and state-led drones to airlift emergency supplies and rescue stranded flood survivors following catastrophic flooding from Tropical Storm Maysak, as the regional death toll reached 39 with nine people still missing.
Nanning Vice Mayor Ding Wei announced the toll at a July 9 news briefing, noting that 26 deaths stemmed from a breach at the Liulan Reservoir in Hengzhou. Officials said the death and missing figures may partially overlap as victim identification continues. Authorities evacuated more than 130,000 people across the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Xinhua footage showed rescue workers harnessing a man atop a stranded oil tanker as a quadcopter drone carried him across floodwaters that had risen past the first floor of nearby buildings. Rescuers separately airlifted a truck driver to safety on July 7, Xinhua reported. Drone crews also conducted nighttime infrared search-and-rescue operations, delivered emergency supplies, and performed aerial reconnaissance of flood-hit areas.
Drone to the rescue! After Typhoon Maysak struck parts of China’s Guangxi, a drone carried a stranded truck driver to safety across a sea of floodwaters. @DiscoverGuangxi @Splendors_of_GX @Helloguangxi1 #FloodRescue #Drone #TyphoonMaysak pic.twitter.com/pyRHnXifbf
— Wang Yu 王愚 (@CGSyd_WangYu) July 9, 2026
Among the systems deployed was the FCourier E40H, a hybrid gas-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing unmanned aircraft (UAV) rated for a 110-pound payload and a roughly 530-mile range at reduced payload.
The E40H received the world’s first type certificate for a hybrid VTOL fixed-wing drone from China’s Civil Aviation Administration in December 2025. Its deployment in Guangxi marks the aircraft’s first large-scale disaster response.
The E40H, a medium-sized compound-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) independently developed by Zhongshan FCourier Aviation Technology, has recently obtained a Type Certificate (Certificate No.: TC0105A-ZN) issued by the Central and Southern Regional Administration of the Civil… pic.twitter.com/FFDsabTR3U
— Amazing Zhongshan (@AmzZhongshan) January 6, 2026
Typhoon Maysak struck Hainan province on July 3 as the year’s first typhoon to make landfall in China before pushing inland into Guangxi, where record rainfall triggered multiple reservoir failures and severed road access to isolated communities.
Floodwaters also collapsed walls at a snake breeding farm in Hengzhou, releasing nearly 900 snakes including venomous cobras. Village official Wu Zhi told state-owned Red Star News that most were non-venomous, though at least one villager was bitten and receiving emergency treatment.
