The Japan Times - 'I'm afraid for my life': Romanians in shock after drone crash

The crash happened in the centre of the city of 200,000 peoplein eastern Romania, on a busy street with 10-storey buildings, shops and banks.

Dozens of people gathered to take photos and videos of the damage done to the last floor of the apartment block hit, where a balcony's exterior looked partially collapsed.

"Look, that's why the alarms rang last night," a father told his daughter.

Romania said the drone was Russian, and called the incident a "serious and irresponsible escalation" by Moscow.

Although Romania, a European Union and NATO member, has recorded dozens of airspace breaches since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, this was the first time a drone hit an apartment block and injured inhabitants.

A 14-year-old boy and his 53-year-old mother were hospitalised with burns.

A neighbourhood resident, 54-year-old traffic clerk Mihaela Blanaru, told AFP she heard a phone alert warning her about the danger, and then was surprised by the light flooding her bedroom and the noise.

"I have two dogs that jumped up half a metre from the bed, leaping up and very agitated. I barely managed to calm them down," Blanaru said, adding she had spent hours outside her apartment on the streets.

"I was expecting an aftershock, just like with an earthquake. That's how panicked I was."

In four years of war, Romania has reported 28 airspace breaches and 47 fallen drone fragments, according to data released on Friday by the defence ministry.

In April, another drone crashed in Galati, in an area on the outskirts of the city.

It hit a toolshed and did not injure anyone, although it was carrying explosives.

- 'Stunned' -

Then, as now, citizens were wondering why the drone was not shot down, although Romania approved a law in 2025 allowing it to do so.

"Where are the anti-drone systems here? Shouldn't they be somewhere on the border of Romania? Why aren't they? Where is the European Union? NATO?" asked 47-year-old Mihaela, who only gave her first name.

"I'm really afraid for my life here," she said, adding that the drone could have fallen on her own apartment block.

While some blamed the incident on a lack of adequate measures taken by the Romanian authorities, others cursed at Russian leader Vladimir Putin for waging war on Ukraine and endangering their own lives as well.

Romania said it was closing the Russian consulate in the Black Sea city of Constanta and expelling the consul general, prompting Moscow to threaten a similar response.

"I was a bit stunned," said pensioner Jenica Emanoil, 70.

He said he had little faith he would be protected in case of future incidents.

"There's not much the authorities can do, after all... These days, safety's pretty much gone."

Y.Kato--JT