A hospital power failure which forced surgeons to perform an emergency Caesarean by torchlight was caused by loose wires, an investigation has revealed.

Bosses at Eastbourne District General Hospital have assured patients emergency procedures are now in full working order after a top-level inquiry.

The investigation followed a power cut earlier this month which left the hospital without power for 50 minutes.

Wards were plunged into darkness and expectant mother Shopna Paul, 35, was forced to undergo an emergency Caesarean in an operating theatre lit by torches when emergency generators failed to switch on.

The unusual procedure was a success and Mrs Paul gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

The cause of the drama has now been levelled at two blown fuses on a control panel which caused a fault on a circuit board.

Glenn Douglas, operational services director for Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "This was caused by a number of loose wires. Often something which could be catastrophic is caused by something small.

"Everyone who dealt with the situation deserves to be congratulated. Staff behaved very responsibly but lessons need to be learnt in terms of staff training.

"A robust testing procedure has now been put in place to ensure it will not happen again."

The hospital power cut was sparked by a 30 second blackout across Eastbourne.

A state-of-the-art generator system, installed last year as a precaution against the so-called Millennium bug, failed to activate then stopped mainline power coming back on.

The same system has been fitted to scores of other hospitals across the country.

The Department of Health has been informed of the incident and all systems will now be checked in case of similar problems.