Smoke billows from Niagara Falls explosion as two people dead in vehicle blast
The cause of Wednesday’s Rainbow Bridge vehicle explosion remains something of a mystery, with investigators now probing whether a mechanical failure could be to blame.
Robert Restaino, the mayor of Niagara Falls, told The New York Times that the Bentley the couple, identified on Friday as Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani, was driving in was an older model and may have experienced some sort of mechanical glitch that caused it to suddenly accelerate as it approached the border checkpoint.
Dramatic footage captured the vehicle speeding up before it hit a curb on the US side of the border, became airborne and then combusted, killing the pair inside.
The blast instantly sparked fears of a terrorist attack but New York Governor Kathy Hochul and FBI officials later said there was “no sign of terrorist activity”.
Instead, law enforcement sources told CNN that the victims were a local New York man and his wife, who have not been named, who were planning to attend a KISS concert in Canada on Wednesday night.
The gig was cancelled and so they stopped by the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino before the vehicle made the ill-fated trip towards the US-Canada border crossing.
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Buffalo airport reopens to international flights after explosion
Buffalo Niagara International Airport has reopened to arriving international flights and departures following a car explosion that occurred at the US-Canada border in Niagara Falls on Wednesday, according to the US Department of Transportation.
It had been closed earlier in the afternoon as officials investigated the cause of the blast.
The incident occurred shortly before 12pm. Authorities say that the vehicle had attempted to cross the US border into Canada using Rainbow Bridge. When a border patrol officer directed the car into a secondary lane for searching, it sped up, went airborne over an 8-foot fence, crashed, caught on fire and then exploded.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 19:34
Chilling footage revealed
The CBP released harrowing footage of the moment that the car went flying through the air, which can be seen in the upper part of the video.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 19:20
The blast could have been caused by a “fuel-air explosion,” former official says
Scott Sweetow, the former director of the FBI’s Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, told CBS News the eruption may have been the result of a “fuel-air explosion.”
“I am speculating that, due to the high speed of the car, and almost disintegration of [the car], that as fuel in the breached gas tank went forward under high speed, it mixed with the air and created almost a cloud of gasoline, which then ignited, creating the dramatic fireball we all saw,” he told the outlet.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 19:00
Theory that the deadly crash was caused by a terrorist act has been throughouly rejected
On Thursday, Niagara Falls Police Department – which is now leading the investigation after the FBI found no signs of terrorism – carried out an accident reconstruction, including retracing the last known movements of the couple.
In a press conference on Wednesday evening, Ms Hochul said she would not go so far as to declare the blast an “accident” just yet as the probe continues but that the two people killed were local residents with no ties to terrorism. No other potential motive had been discovered.
“I want to be very, very clear to Americans and New Yorkers, at this time there is no indication of a terrorist attack,” Ms Hochul said.
She added: “Based on what is happening in the world, everyone is on edge. This is an international border. I won’t call it an accident yet. All we know is there was a horrific incident, a crash, a loss of life – but at this time: no known terrorism activity.”
The FBI’s Buffalo division also released a statement saying that no explosives had been found at the scene and that “no terrorism nexus was identified”.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 18:40
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 18:20
What exactly happened in the Rainbow Bridge crash?
At 11.50am ET, the Rainbow Bridge was closed due to a “traffic event”, according to an incident alert from the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition.
Witness Mike Guenther told NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV that he had been walking on the bridge when he saw a speeding car approach the border checkpoint, hit a fence and go airborne before exploding.
Another witness told reporters that he had seen the vehicle catch fire, before seeing black smoke and flames.
Ambulances arrived soon afterward to find the vehicle completely burned out. Two individuals travelling in the car died, officials said.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 18:20
WATCH: Smoke billows from Niagara Falls explosion as two people dead in vehicle blast
Smoke billows from Niagara Falls explosion as two people dead in vehicle blast
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 18:00
Gov Kathy Hochul said she initially thought the crash was AI-generated
At a press conference earlier this week, the governor said, “You actually had to look at it and say, was this generated by AI?”
“Because it was so surreal to see. How high in the air this vehicle went, and then the crash, and the explosion, and the fire,” she explained.
She and the FBI have ruled out that the incident was a terrorist act. The investigation into the cause is ongoing.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 17:40
What was the cause of the fatal crash?
The cause of the crash is still unknown, but officials have ruled out that it was caused by a terrorist act.
Others have speculated that it was caused by the Bentley, which the couple were driving.
Robert Restaino, the mayor of Niagara Falls, told The New York Times that the Bentley was an older model and may have experienced some sort of mechanical glitch that caused it to suddenly accelerate as it approached the border checkpoint.
However, a spokesperson for the US arm of Bentley Motors told the outlet that the automaker was yet to hear from investigators about the incident.
We might not know exactly what happened for some time. “Due to the complexity of the incident, the investigation will take some time to complete,” the Niagara Falls Police have said.
Kelly Rissman24 November 2023 17:20