Wild scenes at Vivid Sydney as hundreds of terrified revellers are caught in ‘crowd crush’

Festival-goers at the Vivid Sydney light show have been left terrified after they were caught in a ‘crowd crush’ at Circular Quay. 

Hundreds of people were left trapped for up to 30 minutes near the overseas passenger terminal after a drone show ended at 9.10pm on Saturday. 

NSW Police officers were forced to remove metal barriers to let the crowd leave the area as people pushed and shoved their way out of dead ends. 

‘I felt like I was going to die,’ one attendee told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘It was terrifying. All it would have taken was just one person pushing too hard or for someone to fall over for the situation to have catastrophic consequences. 

‘There was no form of crowd control. It was shocking and clearly poorly managed. 

‘People were barging through the eating areas to try and find their way out of the crowd. One of the women sitting down to eat said people who came to the restaurant were leaving because so many people were in the alfresco area. 

‘It’s sad that businesses were losing money when Vivid is designed to bring business to the CBD. We decided to keep pushing through the crowd until we were at a lane way and were able to bail out and then we went home.’

Another attendee, who posted photos of the chaos to X, expressed outrage at the ‘absolutely dangerous scenes at Vivid festival’. 

‘After the 9.10pm drone show finished, there was a crowd crush starting to happen by the overseas passenger terminal,’ they wrote. 

‘Police had to step in to remove barriers because of how serious it was.’

They said the ‘people management’ at the popular event was ‘very poor’. 

‘For example people flowing into dead ends like the food trucks near the passenger terminal entrance and had to turn back,’ they said. 

An attendee who posted photos of the chaos to X (pictured) expressed outrage at the ‘absolutely dangerous scenes at Vivid festival’ on Saturday night

Crowds are pictured gathering at Circular Quay near George Street

Another woman said staff were failing to direct the crowd out of the chaos. 

‘We waited one hour standing to see 10 mediocre drone formations and a bunch of ads. And took us 30 minutes to just leave the spot,’ she said.

‘We had to get on top of the grass bedding to avoid the crowded part. It’s half a meter high but we have kid and elderly. 

‘In the crowd there are baby less than a year old crying. Even as an adult I felt pushed around. Very very badly organised. Don’t recommend. Hope no one gets hiurt

At 8:30pm, Vivid Sydney posted an update to X warning the event was experiencing large crowds for the drone show and asked visitors to avoid Circular Quay. 

‘The show will also be live-streamed at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour on the big screen and on the Vivid Sydney Facebook page,’ the update said. 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Vivid Sydney for comment.  

At 8:30pm, Vivid Sydney posted an update to X warning the event was experiencing large crowds for the drone show and to avoid the area.