Almost 90 drones plummet into water in Sydney

SYDNEY (CBS, KYMA) - Almost 90 drones plummeted into the water at Darling Harbor as Vivid Sydney's "Star-Bound" Drone Show experienced "technical difficulties" Monday.

The annual festival of light, music, minds and food announced it would cancel its 9:30 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time performance after the drones malfunctioned during the 7:30 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time show.

"Public safety and security remain the absolute priority. The decision has been made in line with advice from specialist operators following the earlier issues this evening," Vivid Sydney said.

Footage recorded by Oindrila Mitra shows the drones failing to stay on course for the display, as well as dozens tumbling into the water.

According to news reports, citing drone operator SkyMagic, 89 drones landed in the water due to "unforeseen change in the radio frequency."

"This anomaly caused a number of drones in the fleet to enact failsafe landing procedures in response to compromised positional accuracy," SkyMagic said in a statement. "No vehicle escaped the safety boundary of the show parameters and the reaction of the pilots and crew were timely and appropriate in accordance with our operations manual and processes."