3475Kenya - A Kenyan farmer is seeking compensation for destruction of crops after curious villagers flocked to his farm in central Meru County last week to view a crashed internet balloon. Hundreds of locals swarmed to Joseph Nguthari’s property in Nthambiro, Igembe Central to catch a glimpse of the high altitude device that is part of Google’s Project Loon programme. Project Loon is a global network of high altitude balloons which ascend like weather balloons until they reach the stratosphere, where they sail about 20km above the earth. “The device was emitting a lot of light and people came in droves from far to see it. Some came in vehicles and motorbikes and entered my farm without caution. About seven acres were trampled on. Google experts who collected the device did not care to assess the damage on my farm and those of neighbours,” he said on Wednesday. Loon balloons act as floating mobile phone towers, allowing local telecommunications companies to extend their coverage to remote areas and provide 4G internet. Nguthari says the curious residents trampled on his maize, beans and green grams crops while some helped themselves to his miraa trees, causing ‘massive’ damage. He now says he wants an agricultural expert to assess the damage to his crops so that his lawyer can file a suit against the US-based tech giant. “The damage was made worse after police officers shot in the air to disperse the crowd that was keen to see the device. People were running in all directions destroying my farm produce. My farmhand also left on that day,” Nguthari added. The device was one of Google’s 10 balloons deployed for testing in Kenya’s Nakuru, Nanyuki, Nyeri and Marsabit regions in July last year. It was being navigated remotely to land in a less populated area but strong winds led it to Nguthari’s farm. Google X, in a statement sent on Saturday, however said the balloon’s descent wasn’t a crash but a safe and coordinated landing. “I can confirm this was a Project Loon balloon. Our hope with Project Loon is to beam Internet access to rural, remote, and underserved parts of the world. Following a routine research and testing flight, we coordinated with local air traffic control to manage this balloon’s safe and slow descent to an area in Meru,” the statement said. Project Loon was first launched in 2012 with the aim of providing internet in remote areas of the world. Agencies
