A single frame from a video shows a car burning near the Rainbow Bridge, the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Niagara Falls, New York, on November 22, 2023. Saleman Alwishah / courtesy of REUTERS
Two persons were killed in a speeding car crash that resulted in a security alert and the closure of four U.S.-Canadian border crossings on Wednesday. The crash happened on the bridge that connects New York state and Ontario in Niagara Falls.
A few hours later, federal and state officials said that they had not discovered any proof of a terrorist attack. However, the circumstances surrounding the collision on the Rainbow Bridge were still unclear, making it difficult to say if it was an accident or deliberate.
As of this writing, there appears to be no sign of a terrorist assault or public threat, New York Governor Kathy Hochul informed reporters on Wednesday night. At a different press conference, federal and local law enforcement officers reiterated her remarks.
The FBI said in a statement that its investigation was over. “No explosive materials were found during the scene search, and no connection to terrorism was found,” the FBI stated in a post on X, the platform that was formerly known as Twitter.
The car was leaving the United States at a fast rate of speed when it crashed into something and shot into the air, exploding in flames. The incident was captured on surveillance camera and uploaded to X by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.
A CBP officer was slightly hurt in the collision, and the driver and a passenger died. Later, an agency official reported that he was treated at a hospital and released.
The two fatalities were not identified by the authorities. As per CNN, the driver was a 56-year-old guy who was taking his wife to an event featuring the rock band KISS in a Bentley.
For part of the group’s farewell tour, the band’s performance in Toronto on Wednesday was canceled due to the virus that one of the group’s members, Paul Stanley, contracted.
Hochul stated there were no disruptions despite the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stating on its website that Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York had closed.
“HEIGHTENED ALERT”
The crash occurred on Thanksgiving eve, during the height of U.S. holiday travel, and at a time when security fears worldwide were raised due to the Middle East conflict.
As a precaution, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the Whirlpool Bridge, the Peace Bridge, and the Rainbow Bridge—the other three border crossings along the Niagara River that connect western New York with the Canadian province of Ontario—were all closed for several hours.
With a “heightened alert status,” other international crossings were still open, according to the governor.
According to officials, security has been tightened at several additional airports, railways run by the Niagara-Frontier Transit Authority, and spots all across New York City.
The Rainbow crossing remained closed as authorities conducted an investigation and evaluated the crossing’s safety, but the three bridges that were not implicated were reopened early on Wednesday night.
According to Hochul, the car collided and went flying over an eight-foot-tall barrier before exploding in a flame that destroyed the car, leaving just the engine clearly visible and throwing debris across over a dozen guard booths on the bridge.
As seen Mike Guenther reported to WGRZ-TV in Buffalo that he and his spouse were strolling close to the bridge when the fast-moving vehicle crashed into a fence at the intersection, launched him upward, and burst into flames.
Guenther, who was visiting from Kitchener, Ontario, claimed that “he was flying, over 100 miles per hour.” He said that just before it crashed, the car—which he described as a luxury sedan—was “fish-tailing” out of control.
Guenther remarked, “It was a ball of fire, thirty or forty feet high; never seen anything like it.”
Writer: Steve Gorman; Editors: David Gregorio and Leslie Adler; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil, Katharine Jackson, Daphne Psaledakis, Sarah Heaving, Daniel Trotta, Andrew Hay, Ward Jasper, a Makini Brice, a Gabriella Borter, Joseph Ax, Richard Cowan, and Daniel’s Whitcomb;