Chaos across Melbourne as hospitals, airport, supermarkets hit

The global IT failure has hit Melbourne’s hospitals, airports, supermarkets, and football stadiums, causing widepread chaos across the city on Friday evening.

Admission systems at three major hospitals, Jetstar check-in terminals, Coles checkout machines, and digital ticket readers at Marvel Stadium are all down.

Emergency wards are in chaos at three western Melbourne hospitals after machines suddenly closed down. Royal Melbourne and Epworth Freemasons Hospital also reported computer shutdowns. All the hospitals declared code yellows early Friday evening, an emergency protocol activated when infrastructure failures affect critical health services.

Patients waited in emergency wards as nurses huddled over working machines after multiple computers closed, showing a blue screen.

A raft of commuter V/Line regional train services were cancelled just as evening peak hour occurred, causing large crowds to wait in the cold at Southern Cross station.

Random checkouts at various Coles supermarkets are also out, causing long queues. Shoppers have abandoned full trolleys after payment terminals failed to accept phone-based payment cards.

Melbourne Airport reported the technology failure was impacting multiple airlines. It warned passengers to arrive earlier and check flight schedules with airlines.

Nine News reported that Jetstar had cancelled 15 flights at around 6.30pm, after more than 1000 passengers waited in baggage, unable to check in luggage.

Qantas also cancelled multiple early evening flights, including two to Sydney and one to Hobart. Air Asia also cancelled a flight due to depart for Kuala Lumpur.

Football fans also faced long waits to gain entry to Marvel stadium after entry terminals went down, meaning AFL club members could not enter the stadium.

Several BP petrol stations also closed when payment terminals stopped working. BP operates the major concession on Melbourne’s Eastern motorway.

Emergency services, such as Triple Zero, ambulance, and fire operations, were unaffected. Tram services were also reported to be working without issues.