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Training exercise explosion at prison in Montco injures at least five

Multiple people were injured during a training exercise on Thursday. The FBI and Pennsylvania State Police are investigating.

Google Maps satellite shot of the SCI Phoenix prison under construction, next to the existing Graterford prison. The bright white complex with a central building shaped like a field goal and several X-shaped cells around it is the new Phoenix prison.
Google Maps satellite shot of the SCI Phoenix prison under construction, next to the existing Graterford prison. The bright white complex with a central building shaped like a field goal and several X-shaped cells around it is the new Phoenix prison.Read moreGoogle Maps
    by Ximena Conde
    Updated 
    Published 

The FBI and Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a Thursday morning explosion that took place during a law enforcement training exercise at SCI Phoenix prison in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, wounding at least five people.

A live training device unexpectedly detonated, the FBI said. The agency didn’t say how many people were injured in total, but bomb technicians from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police, and FBI were among those sent to area hospitals.

Their conditions were not released.

Local law enforcement confirmed one member of the Pennsylvania State Police suffered non-life-threatening injuries and one FBI agent was among the injured. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office confirmed three of their bomb technicians were injured. Two were being treated at Paoli Hospital, while one was airlifted to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. All had been with the sheriff’s office for more than a decade.

The FBI’s Philadelphia field office was holding explosives response training for law enforcement partners at SCI Phoenix at the time of the incident. Todd Stieritz, spokesperson for the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, said those at the scene called emergency services for backup shortly before 10 a.m.

Early aerial footage by 6ABC showed a white car surrounded by smoke and surrounding grass either burned or covered in soot.

All questions were being directed to the FBI’s Philadelphia field office, which was not immediately available for additional comment.

Staff researcher Ryan Briggs contributed to this article.