Border crossing closure sparks security scare

Terrorism ruled out as US-Canada bridge crash adds to peak travel woes

WASHINGTON — A speeding car crashed into flames on the bridge linking New York state and Ontario at Niagara Falls on Wednesday, killing two people in the vehicle and sparking a security scare that closed four US-Canadian border crossings.

Hours later, federal and state authorities said investigators had found no evidence of an act of terrorism, though circumstances surrounding the crash on the Rainbow Bridge remained murky, leaving it to be determined whether it was accidental or intentional.

"At this time, there is no indication of a terrorist attack" or threat to the public, New York Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters on Wednesday evening. Her comments were echoed by federal and local law enforcement officials at a separate news conference.

The FBI said in a statement that it had concluded its investigation. "A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified," the FBI said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Video footage of the crash caught on security camera and posted to X by the US Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, agency showed the car traveling from the US side at high speed, then hitting an object and flying into the air before crashing to the ground and exploding in flames.

The driver and a passenger perished in the wreck, and a CBP officer suffered minor injuries. He was treated at a hospital and released, an agency official said later.

Authorities did not identify the two people killed. But CNN reported that the driver was a 56-year-old man who was traveling in a Bentley automobile with his wife to attend a concert by the rock group KISS.

Tour canceled

A performance of the band scheduled for Wednesday in Toronto as part of the group's farewell tour was canceled after one of its members, Paul Stanley, came down with flu.

The US Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, said on its website the Buffalo Niagara International Airport had closed, but Hochul said there were no interruptions.

The crash unfolded at a time of heightened security concerns stemming from the conflicts around the world and at the peak of US holiday travel on the eve of Thanksgiving celebrations.

The Rainbow Bridge and all three other border crossings along the Niagara River between western New York and the Canadian province of Ontario — the Peace Bridge, the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge and the Whirlpool Bridge — were shut for several hours as a precaution.

Other international crossings remained open on "heightened alert status", Hochul said.

Confirming the two fatalities, she suggested the vehicle may have been from western New York state.

Authorities on both sides of the border activated emergency responses and images showed access roads to the crossing swarming with emergency service workers and vehicles.

The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed and was closely following developments.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament: "This is obviously a very serious situation."

Security measures were escalated at other airports and railways managed by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, as well as at various locations around New York City, officials said.

The three bridges that were not involved were reopened early on Wednesday evening, but the Rainbow crossing remained closed during the investigation and as officials assessed the crossing's safety.

Hochul said the car sailed over a 2.4-meter-tall fence before landing in a fireball that incinerated the vehicle, leaving little but the engine visibly intact and scattering debris over more than a dozen security booths on the bridge.

Witness Mike Guenther told Buffalo television station WGRZ-TV that he was walking near the bridge with his wife when the car, traveling at high speed, struck a fence at the crossing and was catapulted into the air before exploding.

Agencies via Xinhua