Sonic boom heard in Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire

The MoD said Typhoon fighter aircraft were launched on Wednesday night

Houses reportedly shook as a sonic boom was heard across several counties on Wednesday night.

People reported hearing a loud bang in parts of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire shortly after 21:30 BST.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "RAF Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Coningsby were launched from Quick Reaction Alert this evening."

A sonic boom is caused when planes fly faster than the speed of sound.

The MoD said the aircraft were deployed "due to a civilian aircraft that had lost communications".

"Communications were regained and the aircraft continued to its destination," said a spokesperson. "No interception was required or completed."

People in the Oundle and King's Cliffe areas of Northamptonshire reported the loud bang, with several saying "it shook the house".

One resident said: "It blew our bedroom door open."

Pete Cox, from Orton Goldhay, in Peterborough, had just finished seeing friends in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and was heading for the train station when he heard the boom shortly after 21:30.

"I thought, that's not something like a bin toppling over - that's much louder," he said.

He described it as "a distant sound - like an explosion".

Typhoons are stationed at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire

Camilla Sherwin, from Oundle, in Northamptonshire, said: "We were about to turn in and suddenly, this massive boom - we thought it was some sort of explosion.

"The whole house sort of shook - the windows shook - and it was quite an extraordinary noise.

"Everybody was jumping on to Facebook to ask what it was - suddenly the local Facebook pages lit up...

"We actually thought we had somebody dancing on our roof," she added.

In Peterborough, Sandy Lane was outside "admiring the super blue moon when we heard and felt it".

"Our garage door rattled and for a split second we felt a kind of tremble or rumble," she said.

"We wondered what ever it could be then looked up to the sky and way high above saw the light of a plane whizzing in the night sky - and realised."

The spokesperson for the MoD said: "The RAF is responsible for policing UK airspace and would prefer not to cause any disturbance to those on the ground, however, the safety and security of the nation remains paramount."

They added: "QRA are launched to intercept unidentified aircraft because the aircraft cannot be identified by any other means, i.e. the aircraft is not talking to civilian or military air traffic control, has not filed a flight plan and/or is not transmitting a recognisable secondary surveillance radar code."