Video: Thousands turn out to watch huge firework display

Part of a Swiss festival, the fireworks display is dubbed the "world's greatest" by organisers

Fireworks illuminate the sky during the Geneva Festival in the bay of Geneva (EPA)

Thousands turned out in Switzerland to see what organisers billed “the biggest fireworks display in the world” over the weekend.

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The free display over Lake Léman was part of the annual Fêtes de Genève, first celebrated at the beginning of the twentieth century, which hosts live performances, markets, and fairgrounds in August around the shoreline of Lake Geneva.

The creative director of the fireworks display Pierre-Allain Beretta said: “Even people who were at Dubai fireworks or other cities will never see something like this.”

He continued: “They will be captivated by the show, and I’m sure they haven’t seen anything like it.”

An estimated 600,000 turned out to watch the event, based around the theme of Man and Time and set to music for the first time this year.

Lasting 60 minutes, the fireworks were dispatched from around 40 firing stations and synchronised to within 1/10th of a second by powerful computers, ensuring spectators were treated to a performance that lit up the sky.

Although free, the display has a budget of around 500,000 to 700,000 euros.