Almost 90 drones plunged from the sky and into the waters of Sydney's Darling Harbour on Monday (May 25), forcing the cancellation of a light show.
The drone show was one of the highlights at Vivid Sydney, an annual three-week festival taking place from May 22 to June 13, and it had reportedly been lauded as the "biggest" in the event's history.
Unfortunately, things went awry during the new aerial spectacle on Monday.
Titled Star Bound, the showcase featuring 1,000 drones was slated to transform Cockle Bay — the wharf area in Darling Harbour — every Sunday to Wednesday night across 22 shows.
Instead, numerous onlookers watched on Monday evening as dozens of drones broke from their stunning double helix formation, before flickering and plummeting into the waters.
@asiaone Shooting stars? 🌠 Nope, just malfunctioning drones. #australia #sydney #drones #sydneylightshow ♬ original sound - AsiaOne
Bystanders expressed their confusion online in various footage of Monday's show, uncertain if the glitch was part of the 12-minute display.
"[The] sound of [the drones] crashing on the wharf was considerable even from probably 10 to 15 or 20 metres away," a Darling Harbour worker named Robert was quoted by national broadcaster ABC as saying.
Drone show organiser Skymagic told BBC news that a "technical issue" caused 89 drones to land in the water.
The operator said in a statement to 10 News Sydney that the issue was caused by an "unforeseen change in the radio frequency" environment after takeoff.
"This anomaly caused a number of drones in the fleet to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy," said Skymagic.
Dyfan Rhys, Skymagic’s head of operations and production, added that "[early] indications show there was no foul play present" but they are still investigating all possibilities.
He emphasised that none of the drones fell outside the demarcated safety boundaries.
A Vivid Sydney spokesperson apologised for the "disappointment and inconvenience caused to attendees" as the drone operator had to cancel the show "in line with standard safety protocols".
The upcoming light shows on May 26 and 27 have also been cancelled.
Vivid Sydney said Skymagic and the relevant government agencies will conduct a full assessment before making a decision on whether the remaining scheduled shows will proceed.
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