A woman in her twenties has died in a car crash after being followed by police investigating reports of a drone being flown near Wandsworth Prison in London.
Her death may be the first linked to the non-military use of drones, The Independent reported.
Police officers were called to a street near the south London prison just after 3am on Tuesday, and began following a car they saw driving away.
Officers were following the vehicle when it crashed just after 03:00 BST in Ashcombe Street, west London, the Metropolitan Police said.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and the driver, a man also thought to be in his twenties, is in a critical condition in hospital. Police are in the process of telling their families.
Concern about the use of drones to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into prisons is growing, The Guardian reported. They have been used to smuggle contraband including legal highs to prison mates.
There has also been a fourfold increase in the number of reports of suspicious activity involving shop-bought drones, according to The Independent.
However, it's not yet clear why the drone was being flown in this case, and its presence near the prison may have been a coincidence.
No arrests have been made following the incident and it is being investigated by the police regulator, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
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