CHILDREN and parents were evacuated from a children's indoor play centre in Lowestoft yesterday afternoon after a loud bang rocked the area.

Lizzie Parry

CHILDREN and parents were evacuated from a children's indoor play centre in Lowestoft yesterday afternoon after a loud bang rocked the area.

The loud noise was reported to police at around 4.30pm at the Adventure Island Play Park in the seaside town.

The incident, initially thought to be an explosion, prompted police officers at the scene in Pinbush Road to evacuate 60 people, including members of the public and staff.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said the loud bang was first thought to be an electrical explosion inside the building.

But upon arrival and working with the fire service the police ascertained the loud bang came from under the ground.

The spokesman said police officers cordoned off the scene whilst they waited for EDF Energy to attend to turn off the power and investigate the cause of the loud bang.

He said yesterday afternoon: “It is a problem underground, under the road near to the building. There is no danger to the public, there were people in the building at the time and in total 60 people were evacuated.”

Adventure Island Play Park is an indoor, pirate themed play area for toddlers and children up to the age of 12 years old.

A spokeswoman for EDF Energy said the fault was on a piece of equipment on the underground electricity distribution network.

She said last night: “Unfortunately as much as we invest in our network faults can still occur, often for reasons beyond our control. The fault was on a localised piece of equipment on our underground electricity distribution network.

“Our engineers isolated supplies to 20 customers at 5.35pm in order to safely carry out repairs. We will be working to reconnect supplies as swiftly as is safely possible and apologise for the inconvenience caused.”