Issued on: 22/11/2023 – 21:19Modified: 22/11/2023 – 21:57

3 min

Two people were killed in the blast at the checkpoint 400 miles (640 kilometers) northwest of New York City, according to US media citing authorities, although their identities were not yet public.

The car exploded at the major Rainbow Bridge crossing near Niagara Falls, local and state authorities said.

The incident’s cause was not immediately clear, and it was also not confirmed in which direction the car was crossing — into Canada or the United States.

However, authorities on both sides of the border activated emergency responses.

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” and he announced the closure of four crossings.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said state police and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force were monitoring all points of entry into the state.

Witnesses described seeing a car traveling at high speed before it crashed into a checkpoint barrier and exploded into flames.

US media cited law enforcement sources as saying there were two people in the car.

‘He was flying’

“We’ve seen this car coming down towards the border and he was flying — over 100 miles an hour,” Mike Guenther, a Canadian visiting the United States, told CBS News.

The car then swerved and “hit the fence, went flying up into the air,” he said. “He went up into the air and we just seen the fireball and that’s all we could see. It was just covered in smoke everywhere.”

The incident came on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the busiest days for travel on the US holiday calendar when millions of Americans take to the roads and skies.

Rainbow Bridge — among the busiest crossings between Canada and the United States — has 16 vehicle lanes and is normally open around the clock, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

Niagra Falls State Park, which attracts millions of visitors every year, was closed until further notice according to the New York State parks service.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said “any time… (infrastructure like) a border crossing sees this kind of violent circumstance, it’s a source of concern for” US and Canadian authorities.

Trudeau’s office said he had been briefed and was in contact with US law enforcement. Multiple Canadian agencies were supporting the investigation, it added.

Multiple witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing a large cloud of smoke near the inspection station.

Fire, black smoke

Ivan Vitalii, a visitor from Ukraine, told the Niagara Gazette he and a friend were at a nearby convenience store on the US side when they saw a car exit a parking lot and travel toward the bridge.

“We heard something smash,” he said. “We saw fire and big, black smoke.”

New York City mayor Eric Adams said that officers of the city’s police department, the country’s largest, had deployed to the border crossing to assist the investigation.

“The city’s partners have already enhanced security, and the city is on heightened alert due to the upcoming holiday,” he said.

Dramatic videos showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from a conflagration at the crossing.

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© 2023 AFP