Florida Jail Explosion Kills Two Inmates, Injures Dozens

@AFP
Florida Jail Explosion Kills Two Inmates, Injures Dozens

Miami (AFP) – At least two inmates were killed and more than 100 people injured when an apparent explosion destroyed part of a jail in the southern U.S. state of Florida, officials said Thursday.

The blast “resulted in a partial building collapse” at Escambia County Central Booking Facility in Pensacola, Florida, officials said on the county website.

The cause of the explosion, which came Wednesday night at 11:00 pm, was not immediately clear.

Initial reports cited an “apparent gas explosion,” but the most recent update from the county said only that “the State Fire Marshall and ATF are on scene investigating the event.” ATF is the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“Between 100 and 150 prisoners and corrections officers have been injured and transported to local hospitals,” in addition to the two dead, the notice said.

“Uninjured inmates are being moved to other detention facilities in Escambia County and neighboring Santa Rosa County,” it added, noting that the prison staff were working to account for the location of each of the inmates.

The explosion came after heavy rains drenched the U.S. east coast Wednesday, and caused flooding, including at the jail.

A county spokeswoman told a local newspaper the flooding may have been a contributing factor to the blast.

The detention center “took heavy flooding today,” Castro told the Pensacola News Journal, “but we’re not sure if that affected what happened here tonight.”

Pensacola is located in the Florida panhandle, in the far northwest of the state near the border with Alabama.

©afp.com/Joe Raedle

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

No, Biden Isn't Terribly Unpopular (And He Polls Better Than Trump)

Time was when getting caught in a malicious lie about a rival would have ended an American politician’s career. We no longer live that way. Just the other day, Donald Trump unleashed a series of falsehoods attacking President Biden that would have shamed a carnival barker.

Keep reading...Show less
Secession: For Modern Americans, Red States Are Now Uninhabitable
Abortion billboard in Atlanta, Georgia

I walked past the TV in the living room just now, and the chryron on the screen read, “Election deniers in charge of elections in 17 states.” It came to me that we’ve entered a period when the political polarization of the country has become physical, because a huge section of our nation is uninhabitable by increasing numbers of citizens.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}