An unmanned aerial drone used to help Border Patrol agents find smugglers and illegal immigrants crossing the border crashed Tuesday in southern Arizona, authorities said.

Operators lost contact with the $6.5 million Predator B drone about 3 a.m. Mountain time. A government helicopter found the crash site about three hours later, said Michael Friel, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington.

Friel said officials didn’t know the extent of the damage done to the drone. The cause of the crash also remained under investigation.

No one was injured and no property on the ground was damaged, he said.

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The crash was also reported by residents from the Tubac area, about 40 miles south of Tucson, who were looking for the source of an explosion they heard in the early morning hours, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada.

“They called it a downed aircraft. That immediately raised our concern,” said Estrada. “It turned out that it wasn’t, fortunately.”

The drone had logged about 900 flight hours in southern Arizona since October, the start of the federal fiscal year, and was credited with helping in the apprehension of nearly 1,800 illegal immigrants and the seizure of about 8,200 pounds of marijuana, Friel said.

Flying at altitudes of up to 15,000 feet, the drone would use its cameras to find people crossing the border. Agents would then move in to make apprehensions and seizures.

Friel said border officials will make adjustments to cover the area that was patrolled by the drone.

The agency was already scheduled to get a second drone in August.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Special. Tags for this post: Breaking News, Special-Breaking News, The Associated Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.