Rainbow Bridge explosion: Possible cause of Niagara Falls crash revealed newsbhunt

The Rainbow Bridge reopened on Thursday – one day after the fiery car crash that left a New York couple dead.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the development in a post on X on Thanksgiving.

“Only one day after the horrific incident on the Rainbow Bridge closed nearby cross-border travel for hours, the bridge is now reopen,” she said.

“I am grateful to the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, @CBP, & all working to keep New Yorkers safe during the busiest travel time of the year.”

A vehicle involved in the explosion at Rainbow Bridge on Wednesday stopped at Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino just moments beforehand, the Seneca Nation said in a statement provided to The Independent.

Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino is a gaming facility and resort located less than a mile from the Rainbow Bridge which connects the US to Canada.

The Seneca Nation, which owns and operates the casino, said a vehicle stopped at its location “only for a matter of minutes shortly before the crash occurred”. They did not confirm if the vehicle was the one that crashed and exploded.

After reviewing information regarding the vehicle, the Seneca Nation said it provided it to law enforcement in their investigation into the explosion that killed two people.

“We are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation into the incident that occurred near the Rainbow Bridge. We have reviewed and provided information related to a vehicle that stopped at Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino only for a matter of minutes shortly before the crash occurred,” the Seneca Nation said.

In a press conference earlier, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that the driver of the vehicle was a “western New York resident”.

Ms Hochul said that she could not confirm reports that the vehicle had been travelling from a nearby casino to Toronto, adding: “but there is suspicion that the vehicle may have originated in that vicinity”.

There were two occupants in the vehicle, a man and a woman, when the car crashed near the US-Canada border crossing and burst into flames.

Their identities have not been confirmed by the Niagara Falls Police Department yet.

Tributes are pouring in for the New York couple who were killed in the fiery car crash on the Rainbow Bridge which connects the US and Canada.

Though they are yet to be formally named by investigators, devastated friends, neighbours and loved ones in the upstate New York community of Grand Island know the victims’ identities and are devastated by what has happened.

The husband and wife were members of Niagara Sailing Club on Grand Island, the club’s treasurer Scott Henderson told NBC-affiliate-WGRZ.

“Not only were people talking but then I made an announcement and some people were just incredibly shocked,” he said.

“It’s just not only a younger couple like that, but so ingrained and influential in this community.”

New York’s governor says that there is “no sign of terrorism” in the violent vehicle explosion that left two people dead and injured a border guard at the Rainbow Bridge crossing between the United States and Canada in New York near Niagara Falls.

Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that there was no evidence of any terror planning and that an investigation would continue to look into what happened.

“This vehicle basically incinerated, there is nothing left but the engine. it is going to take a long time for our federal law enforcement partners to piece together the real story,” she told a press conference and said no threats had been made against the region. “The pieces are scattered over 13, 14 booths so it is a large scene.

“Based on what we know at this moment there is no sign of terrorist activity. This is a local individual. It’s a Western New York resident who was most likely in that vicinity prior to the high speed, high rate of speed, extraordinarily high rate of speed that led to the crash into the median that sent the vehicle airborne.”

She added: “We need to dial down the temperature, all is well, we are still investigating but based on the preliminary investigation there is no sign of terrorism in this horrific explosion.”

The couple, who have not been identified but are said to live in western New York, were travelling in their speeding Bentley when the car rammed into the crossing, law enforcement sources told CNN.

The sources said that the couple were planning to cross the border to go to a KISS concert in Toronto that night. But, the concert was cancelled earlier in the day due to frontman Paul Stanley being taken ill with flu.

The pair instead headed to a casino not far from the border, CNN reported – with the crash then unfolding when the couple left the casino in their Bentley.

Surveillance footage captured the vehicle driving at high speed and exploding as it crashed near a security checkpoint at the Rainbow Bridge crossing on Wednesday morning.

The car became airborne during the incident and crashed into a cement pillar. A suitcase was found near the vehicle but did not contain any explosives, officials told The New York Times.

Thick smoke, flames and a singed security booth could be seen in photos and videos taken by bystanders and posted on social media. Videos showed that the fire was in a US Customs and Border Protection area just east of the main vehicle checkpoint.

Speaking to WGRZ-TV, witness Mike Guenther said he saw a vehicle speeding toward the crossing from the US side of the border when it swerved to avoid another car, crashed into a fence and exploded.

“All of a sudden he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30 or 40 feet high,” Mr Guenther told the station. “I never saw anything like it.”

CCTV footage shows the moment a car travels at speed while approaching the Rainbow Bridge border crossing in Niagara Falls.

The surveillance footage released by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows a white car speeding towards the bridge connecting the US and Canada on Wednesday, 22 November.

In the video, the car hits a ramp and is airborne, before causing an explosion, which isn’t captured in the footage.

It is confirmed the explosion killed two people who were inside the vehicle.

In the minutes after a car exploded on Rainbow Bridge on the border of New York and Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, reports emerged that a bomb caused the explosion leading to concerns of a terrorist attack.

Several right-leaning news outlets, including Fox News, sounded the alarm of the potential threat.

However, shortly after officials in the FBI confirmed that “no explosive materials and no terrorism nexus” were identified at the scene. Rather, the car carrying two passengers was travelling at high speeds, crashed, caught fire and then exploded.

But on social media, misinformation about the explosion continued to circulate into Thursday because some posts remained up with no updated information, including one from Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

The FBI has ended its investigation of a fiery car wreck that killed two people at a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls after finding no evidence that it was a terror attack, easing a tense period of high tensions as Americans headed into the Thanksgiving holiday.

The FBI’s decision late Wednesday came several hours after the vehicle raced through an intersection, hit a median and was launched through the air before slamming into a line of booths and exploding at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Local police are now handling the case as a traffic investigation.

“A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified,” the FBI’s Buffalo office said in a statement. “The matter has been turned over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation.”