Nearly 90 drones fell from the sky over Sydney's Darling Harbour during a popular winter light show, with footage showing devices splashing into the water close to crowds. Organisers of Vivid Sydney, an annual three-week festival featuring large light installations, said the malfunction on Monday evening was due to "unforeseen technical difficulties" and have cancelled several upcoming shows.

Footage captured dozens of drones tumbling out of the night sky, leaving bystanders confused. Skymagic, the UK company behind the show, blamed a change in radio frequency for the glitch and said none of the drones fell outside safety boundaries. A Darling Harbour worker named Robert told ABC: "The sound of them crashing on the wharf was considerable even from 10 to 15 metres away; you could hear them physically crash and smash onto the cement marina."

A Skymagic spokesperson said: "During the performance on the evening of 25 May, Skymagic experienced a technical issue that resulted in 89 drones landing in the water around Cockle Bay." The main cause was "an unforeseen change in the radio frequency environment occurring after take-off," triggering some drones "to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy."

A Vivid Sydney spokesperson apologised for the "disappointment and inconvenience caused to attendees" and said the drone operators cancelled the show "in line with standard safety protocols." Festival organisers said Skymagic and government agencies will conduct a full assessment before deciding on the remaining schedule.

Called Star-Bound, the drone show features up to 1,000 purpose-built drones in an aerial display lasting up to 12 minutes. The first shows started on Sunday and it was slated to host 22 shows over 11 nights over three weeks. Vivid Sydney debuted drone shows in 2024, but last year decided not to host any due to overcrowding concerns. The festival, which started in 2009, bills itself as the "Southern Hemisphere's largest festival of light, music, ideas and food."

Source: www.bbc.com