New York: Two people were killed in a 'vehicle explosion' at the US-Canada border crossing near Niagara Falls in the afternoon hours on Wednesday, CBS News reported citing sources. Four US-Canada border crossings in the region have been closed as investigators respond to the situation, it said.
Two people were killed inside the vehicle that exploded, according to several law enforcement officials who verified the information to CBS News. The nationalities of the two people who died are not yet known, officials said.
A senior US law enforcement official told CBS News that the car was coming from the US side. It hit the customs station and the vehicle was charred. It is not yet known why the car exploded. A senior administration official described the incident to CBS News as "more than a freak accident, but we don't yet have details.
A Canadian visitor to New York, Mike Guenther, said he was walking close by when the incident happened and he noticed the vehicle speeding in the direction of the border crossing. "And he was flying, over 100 miles an hour. There was a car in front of him, he swerved out, went in front of the car, hit the fence, went flying up into the air ... and we saw the fireball, and that's all we could see, there was just smoke everywhere," he said, according to CBS News.
Meanwhile, the FBI Buffalo Field Office in a statement posted on social media platform X, said, "The FBI Buffalo Field Office is investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a border crossing between the US and Canada in Niagara Falls. The FBI is coordinating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation.
As this situation is very fluid, that's all we can say at this time." The Rainbow Bridge, which links Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, and Niagara Falls, New York, is a well-liked tourist destination. The Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, and the Peace Bridge are the other border crossings in the area. Following the incident, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement
"At my direction, the New York State Police is actively working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force to monitor all points of entry to New York." Adding further, she stated that as of now, she is on her way to Buffalo to "meet with law enforcement and emergency responders," and take stock of the situation. The Rainbow Bridge crossing connecting the US and Canada near Niagara Falls has been shut as the federal authorities in Buffalo, New York, have said that an investigation is underway.
High alert
The fiery explosion of a car on a bridge to Canada has put the two neighbouring nations on high alert. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that “at this time” there was “no known terrorist connection”. Soon after the crash, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament that the situation was “very serious”.
“We’re taking this extraordinarily seriously,” he said before rushing out of the chamber. The explosion took place on the eve of Thanksgiving Day amid heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war that has spawned high emotions and protests across the two neighbours. The annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City attracts a crowd of about 3 million along its route and the city's Mayor Eric Adams said that "the NYPD (police department) and our team have been closely monitoring the situation".There will be “increased security at locations across New York City, including entry and egress points into and out of the city”, he said. All four bridges in the Niagra area were shut down and other crossings were put on “heightened alert status”, the New York State Transportation Department said.
Amtrak, the railway system, announced that it was suspending service from the US to Toronto. The Niagara Frontier Transportation authority said it was “increasing security system-wide. Cars and passengers coming into the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Airports”.Hochul said that the explosion so completely demolished the vehicle that only the engine remained. The persons in the car were a man and a woman and Hochul said that one of them was from the area. A video from the border checkpoints showed the vehicle flying several feet high in the air.
Hochul likened the video of the crash to something generated by artificial intelligence. An eyewitness told NBC News: “The car was coming, flying back here, like over 100 miles an hour."The car went up “like 30-40 feet high” after hitting a barrier and then caught fire, the man said.ABC News said that according to its sources, the vehicle traveling at a high speed hit a concrete barrier, careened into an area where cars waited for secondary inspection, burst into flames and exploded. The bridge explosion initially raised fears of a terrorist incident because of the dramatic nature of the crash, the strategic location where it happened and the day.
Local Sheriff John Garcia told CNN, “We didn’t know if it was a terrorist attack or not at the beginning”, but every precaution was taken to ensure the community’s safety. Fox News had reported earlier that according to its sources, the FBI was looking into it as “an attempted terrorist attack”.ABC News said that according to its sources, a suitcase or briefcase was found nearby and investigators treated it as a potential explosive device. But Hochul said that no explosives were found.
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