Once bustling with playful children, a local orphanage is now a ghost town.

Eight children along with the staff members of the Bilney Lane Home for Children had to be relocated to another care facility after the children’s home was closed down.

The Bahama Journal spoke with Minister of Social Services Melanie Griffin who said the home was closed last week due to plumbing issues.

She added that the closure is temporary.

“The Ministry of Works has been called in and they are assessing the works to be done and once they are able to tell us what is what,” she said.

“There were some major plumbing issues there that made it untenable for the children and the staff to stay there. The Bilney Lane home is a very old, it used to be a clinic many years ago and so of course all of the infrastructure and utilities are definitely old so the plumbing has presented a major problem for us.”

The assessment from the Ministry of Works will determine when and if the home is to be up and running again.

The Bilney Lane Home is a government owned facility that is managed by the Methodist Church.

The home is located on Bilney Lane Children’s Home off Shirley Street.