Nearly 100 drones crash into Sydney Harbour as light show malfunctions

Around 90 drones tumbled from the sky and splashed into the water on Monday evening at about 7.30pm local time.

Organisers of Vivid Sydney, an annual three-week festival featuring large light installations, blamed the unexpected turn of events on "unforeseen technical difficulties" and cancelled several upcoming shows.

The British company organising the display, Skymagic, said the error was due to a change in the radio frequency used by the aircraft during take-off.

Onlookers said they could hear the sound of drones as they made contact with the water and the concrete below.

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A local harbour worker told ABC News he could "hear them physically crash and smash onto the cement marina," from a 20-metre distance.

A spokesperson for Skymagic 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," referring to the wharf area in Darling Harbour.

This led some drones "to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy".

The show, called Star-Bound features up to 1,000 drones in a light installation display lasting up to 12 minutes.

The shows started on Sunday and was due to host 22 displays across 11 nights over the next three weeks.

It was debuted by Vivid Sydney in 2024, but had to be called off last year over concerns about capacity.

A spokesperson for Vivid Sydney apologised for the "disappointment and inconvenience caused to attendees".

They added the drone operators cancelled the show "in line with standard safety protocols".

Skymagic and the festival organisers said there will be a full assessment before a decision is made on the upcoming shows.