Car explosion at US-Canada border kills New York couple, this is how it happened
Was it an accident? Untold mystery of the NYC couple's Bentley's fiery crash at US-Canada border crossing
A couple from New York died in a fiery crash at a border crossing near Niagara Falls on Wednesday morning, according to law enforcement sources. The FBI said it found no evidence of terrorism and handed over the investigation to local authorities. Earlier NYC Governor Kathy Hochul the crash was not an act of terrorism.
The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. on the US side of the Rainbow Bridge, one of the four bridges that connect the US and Canada in the area. CNN reported that the couple was driving a Bentley at a high speed when they hit a curb and a guardrail, which launched the car into the air and into a screening booth, where it exploded.
What we know so far-
1. A New York couple died in a car that crashed and exploded at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing on Wednesday morning.
-The man who died had planned to go to a KISS concert in Canada, but it was canceled. He then went to a casino in the US with his wife. The crash occurred after they left the casino.
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2. The FBI said it found no evidence of terrorism and no explosives at the scene.
-The FBI’s Buffalo field office said in a statement Wednesday night that it had not found any connection to terrorism and no explosives were found at the scene. The agency said it was turning over the case to local police as a traffic investigation.
Gov. Hochul said she saw footage of the crash that looked “absolutely surreal.”
“I want to be very, very clear to Americans and New Yorkers: At this time there is no indication of a terrorist attack,” Hochul said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
“Two individuals died in the vehicle,” Hochul said, adding that the car belonged to a western New York resident.
3. The crash triggered a security alert and disrupted travel plans on both sides of the border.
-The explosion caused a major security alert on both sides of the border.
The crash also disrupted travel plans for many people on one of the busiest days of the year. All four bridges between the US and Canada near Niagara Falls were temporarily closed, but three of them reopened later Wednesday. Rainbow Bridge remains closed.
The leaders of both countries were briefed on the incident, as well as other officials in New York and Washington, DC. Some local government offices on the US side were evacuated as a precaution.
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The Buffalo Niagara International Airport stopped international flights for a while, but resumed them later. All cars entering the airport were screened by bomb-sniffing dogs, a spokesperson for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority said.
4. The investigation is ongoing and the motive of the crash is unknown.
“There’s a lot of unanswered questions,” Hochul said of the vehicle’s occupants Wednesday. She said it was not clear whether the crash was an accident or an intentional act.
Amtrak also suspended part of its route that connects New York to Toronto.