2 dead, 100-150 injured in explosion at Florida prison - police
At least 2 people have been killed and 100 injured in a gas explosion at a jail in Pensacola, Florida, according to a spokeswoman. The blast resulted in the partial collapse of one of the buildings.
Pensacola police officer, Maria Landy, confirmed to ABC News
Radio that there were two deaths. However, she would not specify
if these fatalities were inmates or guards.
The accident happened at the Escambia County Central Booking and
Detention Facility on Wednesday night. The blast reportedly shook
houses for several blocks and police have cordoned off the area.
"There was an apparent gas explosion in the central booking
area of the Escambia County jail," Escambia County Public
Information Officer Kathleen Dough-Castro said during a news
briefing, as cited by the Pensacola News Journal. "We had
approximately 600 prisoners in the facility at the time. Injured
prisoners are being transported under guard to area hospitals.
Uninjured prisoners are being taken to other detention facilities
in Escambia County as well as Santa Rosa County."
Dough-Castro said that one of the buildings partially collapsed
in the facility and there was also damage caused to a roof, while
the walls in the facility are believed to be unstable.
There are both inmates and guards among the injured, and they
have been taken to five different hospitals in the area.
Sacred Heart Hospital accepted 31 patients with mostly minor
injuries, according to the hospital’s spokesman, who added law
enforcement officers were providing security while prisoners were
being treated there.
Among other medical facilities providing treatment are Baptist
Hospital, Gulf Breeze Hospital and West Florida Hospital. All of
them report having patients with non life-threatening injuries.
Authorities are trying to find out what caused the explosion and
if the accident could in any way have been provoked by extensive
flooding, which had affected the facility following heavy rains
in the region on Tuesday and Wednesday.
