Car exploded near Canada-US border when couple crashed on way to Kiss concert
The car which exploded near a bridge connecting Canada to the US was a Bentley being driven by a husband and wife on the way to a Kiss concert, it has emerged.
US outlets reported the couple, who have not yet been named, crashed as they drove a Bentley at speed towards the Rainbow Bridge near Niagara Falls. Authorities said the pair were killed in the incident.
The man, who is said to be 56 and from New York state, was planning to attend the concert but when it was cancelled at the last minute, he decided to visit a casino on the US side of the border with his wife.
Witnesses said their car swerved to avoid an oncoming car before hitting a fence at speed.
“We’ve seen this car coming down towards the border and he was flying – over 100 miles an hour,” witness Mike Guenther said. “All of a sudden, he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30 or 40 feet high.”
Rickie Wilson, another witness, added: “I said, ‘My God, it’s a car. It’s a vehicle, and it’s flying through the air.’”
Kathy Hochul, the New York governor, said the car exploded on impact with the ground, being engulfed by flames in which it almost entirely “disintegrated”.
“I want to be very, very clear to Americans and New Yorkers, at this time there is no indication of a terrorist attack,” she told a press conference on Wednesday evening.
The intensity of the blaze meant that identifying the remains was “difficult”, CNN reported.
John Garcia, the Erie County Sheriff, said the incident was a “tragic accident”.
A border patrol officer working in a booth near where the car landed suffered minor injuries in the incident, which was initially feared to be a potential terror attack.
Joe Biden, the US president, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, were both briefed on the incident as the bridge and the other three crossings between western Ontario and New York were shut as a precautionary measure.
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, said security measures in the city had been ramped up and officers from the NYPD would be seconded to the crash site.
