Classes at the school have resumed after researchers at the lab "inadvertently produced a small amount of a shock-sensitive explosive chemical,” the school said.
Classes are resuming at the University of Delaware after authorities and a bomb squad were called to the campus to handle a lab “safety related incident” that led to a partial student evacuation.
The emergency situation was launched Wednesday afternoon in response to “an isolated hazardous materials situation related to an experiment in Lammot du Pont lab,” the University of Delaware said in a statement.
Researchers in the lab had “inadvertently produced a small amount of a shock-sensitive explosive chemical,” the school said, adding that the incident was isolated and there was no widespread threat to campus health.
Six locations on campus were closed and evacuated, including the Lammot du Pont lab in question and two other labs, the statement read. Students and staff were asked to stay away from those locations as Delaware State Police’s explosive ordnace disposal unit coordinated a “controlled detonation” at a “safe location,” Delaware Online reported, citing a university statement.
The excitement led hundreds of students to gather across the street from where the detonation was scheduled. "We don't really have any homework to be doing so far, so here we are waiting for the explosion," said Cayden Walker, a freshman, who explained that classes for the spring semester had just began, according to Delaware Online.
No injuries were reported, and normal school operations have since resumed following the incident, the school said.
“We’re grateful for the collaboration of emergency responders on campus and from state and local agencies to achieve a safe resolution to this situation,” Mark Seifert, an associate vice president of the college, said in a statement.
