TRANSCRIPT
A car has exploded on the United States side of the border with Canada, killing two people and injuring a border guard.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirms authorities are investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge crossing.
"Mr. Speaker, this is obviously a very serious situation in Niagara Falls. There was a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge crossing. I've been briefed by the NSA and the Minister of Public Safety, CBSA, RCMP and Transport Canada are all fully engaged and providing the necessary support. There are a lot of questions and we are following up to try and get as many answers as rapidly as possible. We are in close contact with U.S. officials and will continue to work closely with them. We will continue to be engaged. We will provide updates. Updates I can give right now is there are four border crossings that are right now closed. Rainbow Bridge, Whirlpool Bridge, Queensland Bridge and Peace Bridge."
Video footage of the incident shows a car travelling at high speed, reportedly in excess of 160 kilometres per hour, before becoming airborne and exploding upon landing.
Ricki Wilson was at the border and witnessed the incident.
"And I close the door to my car, and about 30 feet from me, I seen something airborne. I first thought it was an airplane, looked like slow motion and I said, My God, it's a car and it's a vehicle and it's flying through the air. He hit the concrete barrier probably right at the... God knows how many thousands of feet before the bridge. It went airborne. The vehicle began to turn sideways and went under something overhead. And then it hit something over there. And my prayer was just, please don't let any of the officers, you know, get hit over there. And then all of a sudden black smoke."
Mike Guenther also saw what happened.
"I have never seen anything like this. It was just incredible. Fire was so high up in the air. My only concern is I hope no one else got hurt. Because if anyone was in the way of that, I don't think they would have survived."
With tensions high around the world due to the conflict in the Middle-East, there were fears that the incident could be terror-related.
But New York State Governor Kathy Hochul later confirmed there is no indication of terrorism.
"All the world is watching to find out what happened here. And again, at a time when there's such high anxiety, stress levels are already high. And we've been on heightened alert since October 7. That's why it's so important for me to stand here and tell the world based on what we know at this moment. And again, anything can change. There is no sign of terrorist activity with respect to this crash. We have identified that this is a local individual, a western New Yorker. Two individuals died in the vehicle. The border patrol individual working in the booth was injured, the booth really protected that individual. They went to the hospital for minor injuries that have been released."
