The Slatest

CIA Accidentally Leaves “Explosive Training Material” on Virginia School Bus

A school bus is seen during a safety event for children at Trailside Middle School, in Ashburn, Virginia on Aug. 25, 2015.  

Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

A group of parents in Loudoun County, Virginia, were likely none too happy to hear that their kids were driven around in a school bus that had “explosive training material” under the hood. Turns out the CIA used a school that was empty during spring break for a training exercise for explosive-detecting dogs. And some explosive material was left over. The CIA assured in a statement that the training material “did not pose danger to passengers on the bus.”

The CIA has not released the exact name of the material that was found, but authorities said that it was “incredibly stable” and would have required a special detonator in order to explode. The point of the exercise was to train dogs on finding the explosives. While it may seem the dogs failed at their task, officials insisted that was not the case, explaining that while they did sniff out the material that was placed in the bus engine some of it fell deep inside the hood and “became wedged beneath the hoses,” reports the Washington Post.

The bus transported 26 students from two elementary schools and one high school over Monday and Tuesday before the material was found on Wednesday during a routine inspection.