2 Dead, More Than 150 Injured In Florida Jail Explosion

[mountaineer]

At least two people have died with more than 150 others injured after a gas explosion at a Florida jail, authorities said, tying the blast to recent flooding in the region.

The explosion happened around 11 p.m. at the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention Facility in Pensacola, county spokeswoman Kathleen Dough-Castro said.

There's no word at this point on whether the victims are inmates or guards, Pensacola Police Officer Maria Landy told ABC News Radio.

The injured - 155 inmates and guards in total - have been taken to area hospitals, most of them with minor injuries. About 600 uninjured prisoners were evacuated by bus and transferred to other detention facilities in the area, Dough-Castro said. No inmates are known to have escaped.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion in the western Florida town.

ABC News

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Wall St. Journal reports:

PENSACOLA, Fla.—Two people were killed and more than 100 were injured by a gas explosion at a Florida jail, a county spokeswoman said.

The explosion happened around 11 p.m. CDT on Wednesday in a booking facility at the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola, according to Kathleen Castro, the county's public information manager. The blast also injured 100 to 150 inmates and corrections officers and caused the building to partially collapse.

Ms. Castro said about 600 inmates were in the building at the time.

She said she didn't know if flooding in the area was a factor but said the jail did get extensive flooding during heavy rains that drenched the region on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The injured were taken to hospitals and the uninjured inmates were transferred to jails in neighboring counties, Ms. Castro added.

Victims were taken to Sacred Heart Hospital, West Florida Hospital and two Baptist Health Care hospitals in Pensacola and nearby Gulf Breeze.

Vicki Brooks, a spokeswoman for Sacred Heart, said the hospital treated 31 patients with mostly neck and back injuries. Kendrick Doidge said West Florida Hospital treated 37 inmates in the emergency room and all have been released back into the custody of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.

Of the 50 patients taken to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, 12 had been treated and released by Thursday morning, said spokeswoman Liz Branch. At Gulf Breeze Hospital, 13 of the 31 patients from the explosion were treated and released.

The names of the two people killed in the explosion weren't immediately released.

[mountaineer]

Two inmates dead, scores injured, in suspected gas explosion at Florida jail
4 minutes ago

(Reuters) - Two inmates were killed and roughly 150 prisoners and guards injured in an apparent gas explosion at a jail in northwest Florida late on Wednesday, and county officials said many had been treated and released by Thursday morning.

The blast partially leveled the four-story Escambia County Jail's central booking facility in Pensacola, which held roughly 600 inmates, at about 11 p.m., county spokeswoman Kathleen Castro said. No escapes were reported.

"The building is still standing, it's just unstable and partially collapsed," Castro said, describing the incident as an "apparent gas explosion."

"We have reports people heard an explosion and smelled gas. There was no fire," she said, adding that the blast may have been related to severe storms that have hit the southern United States, damaging buildings and infrastructure.

"The facility did receive extensive flooding as a result of the rains yesterday," Castro said. Flooding, she said, "would seem to be a causal relationship, but we can't be sure."

The state fire marshal and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were investigating at the scene, she said.

She said two inmates were killed and between 100 and 150 of those present were injured, adding it was unclear how the inmates died or the breakdown of injured inmates and guards.

Calls to four area hospitals showed 151 people were transported with non-life threatening injuries, at least one of them a corrections officer. Roughly 80 had been treated and released by Thursday morning.

A statement on the Escambia County website made no mention of gas, saying only it was an "apparent explosion" after earlier reporting it was "an apparent gas explosion".

Castro described a frenetic scene where officials were scrambling to get people out of the building, provide medical care, and working to make sure inmates were detained and routed to other facilities. The search and rescue operation was ongoing, though the building has been secured.

The facility holds about 400 men and 200 women. Injured prisoners were being transported to the hospital, with those uninjured being sent to other detention centers in Escambia County and neighboring Santa Rosa County, Castro said.

About 100 inmates were being transferred to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office jail, though the exact number was not known, office spokesman Rich Aloy said.