A 13-year-old boy suffered serious burns after he touched high-voltage cables while playing on a railway line outside Norwich.

A 13-year-old boy suffered serious burns after he touched high-voltage cables while playing on a railway line outside Norwich.

Emergency services were called at 12.40pm to reports that two teenage boys were on the track in Thorpe St Andrew, in an area known locally as The Denes.

Paramedics had to make a dramatic rescue attempt, using a train to reach the boys before transporting them back to Norwich Station where the boy with serious injuries was transport to hospital by the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Motorists and rail travellers were warned that traffic and railway services suffered disruption during the operation. The alarm was raised by members of the public who spotted to two children on the line.

The injuries are not thought to be life-threatening but sources told the EDP the incident would have been far more serious had the emergency services not been alerted so quickly.

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: “One of the boys had suffered serious electrical burns on all of his limbs. He was taken to hospital by air ambulance.

“It appears he has come into contact with overhead cables, although it is not clear how this happened. He was conscious and breathing when the ambulance arrived.”

The spokesman said the boys were both aged 13 and lived nearby. Train services were delayed while an investigation was launched into the incident.