By Ashleigh McMillan and Alex Crowe
Drones fell from the sky and plunged into the Yarra River during a light display ahead of Friday night’s Matildas soccer match at Marvel Stadium.
In videos posted to social media, more than 100 drones were captured falling out of formation and flashing as they dropped into the water in Docklands.
The drone malfunction occurred just before the Matildas’ anticipated friendly against France, a warm-up game ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup which starts on Thursday.
In a media release ahead of the event, the Victorian government had touted that 500 drones would light up the sky for 10 minutes “displaying a series of messages and images in support of our Matildas”.
No one was injured due to the malfunction and water police were on scene on Friday night. A team of divers will attempt to fish the unmanned aerial vehicles out of the river on Sunday.
The drone display was created by the Australian Traffic Network, which has previously created drone shows for the State of Origin and Vivid Festival in Sydney.
Visit Victoria confirmed an investigation into the failure had begun and that it had been informed a technical malfunction had taken place.
The Australian Traffic Network’s Vic Lorusso was unable to confirm how many drones dropped into the Yarra, but about 350 of the 500 devices did not return following the performance. It was not yet clear what caused the technical glitch with the drones.
The space under the drones was inaccessible during the performance and the business had adhered to all Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulations, Lorusso said.
“The drones, to their credit, did what it was supposed to do when they got into a malfunction or technical glitch, which was to auto-land,” he said.
“Unfortunately, when you’re over water, an auto-land is in the water.
“Obviously it’s upsetting to us, but we’ve just got to find out the reason why it happened ... but that said, I’m really happy because everyone’s safe, and that’s paramount to us.”
The Australian Traffic Network has hired a team of five divers to retrieve some of the drowned drones from the river on Sunday, to assist with investigations into how the malfunction occurred.
Wendie Renard of France leads the team out for the match between the Matildas and France at Marvel Stadium.Credit: Getty
Football Australia and Victoria Police have been contacted for comment. Parks Victoria declined to comment on the incident.
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