News agency Reuters has told the story of its increasing use of drones to deliver images and footage, "going where journalists can't".

In a company PR blog post, they tell how the use of drones made it possible to show the true extent of devastation when a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut last month.

Following up with the impact on survivors, Reuters used drones to tell the story of one victim haunted by the blast.

The growing use of drones - already widespread in Asia - is enabling access to unique perspectives and angles otherwise impossible to capture. Reuters says it has been at the forefront of drone use in newsgathering, "delivering customers compelling video and pictures to tell stories in unprecedented ways".

One example was when Hurricane Laura tore through the Caribbean and made landfall in the US, with Reuters drone video providing coverage of the early stages of the storm as millions of people braced for impact.

After fires destroyed Greece's largest migrant camp on the island of Lesbos, leaving nearly 13,000 people without shelter, Reuters had broadcast-quality drone footage to offer clients, which it says others struggled to match. Days later, aerial footage filmed by Reuters showed the scale of the sprawling tent camp that had been set up by authorities to house thousands of migrants left homeless.

Other recent coverage has including the Amazon wildfires and a typhoon clean up in Japan, as well as features such as this floating piano on a French lake, a socially-distanced drive-in rave in Germany and Australia's 'whale super highway.'

Pictured: A damaged building in the aftermath of the Beirut blast, taken with a drone by by photographer Bader Helal and (top) the floating piano