Explosion in Florida jail leaves two dead, injures over 150 guards and inmates

Two inmates were killed and between 100 and 150 prisoners and guards injured in an apparent gas explosion at a jail in northern Florida late on Wednesday, a county official said. The blast partly leveled the four-story Escambia County Jail’s central booking facility, which held roughly 600 inmates, at about 11 pm, county spokeswoman Kathleen Castro said. No escapees were reported.

‘The building is still standing, its 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.