Two dead in explosion at border crossing linking New York to Canada

Two people died when a car crashed and exploded on the U.S. side of a Canada-U.S. border crossing in Niagara Falls Wednesday afternoon. Despite the fears aroused by such an event, it would not be a terrorist attack.

During a press briefing held late Wednesday afternoon, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul still could not explain why the vehicle ended up gliding before explode, but she made a point of mentioning that there are “no signs of a terrorist attack at this time.”

“I’m not going to call it an accident, because it’s something that still needs to be determined. We don’t know if the driver did this intentionally. All I know is that there was a terrible incident, an explosion, loss of life, but at this time there is no known link to terrorism,” he said. -she explains.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a speeding car that swerved to avoid another vehicle before hitting a curb. It was then propelled into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection complex used for secondary customs inspections, where it exploded.

Four separate ports of entry between Canada and New York state were closed as a precaution for much of the afternoon Wednesday. Three of them, the Lewiston, Whirlpool and Peace bridges, were able to reopen, but not the Rainbow Bridge complex, where the event took place.

The investigation continues to understand the circumstances of this incident, but it is complex and could take some time, according to Governor Hochul, since the car involved is “burned”. All that’s left is the engine, she said, and parts have fallen into several different places.

According to her, the images of the scene, which should be made public, are “surreal”.

“When you see this video, you’re going to be speechless to see how (the vehicle) went over an eight-foot fence. It’s quite extraordinary,” she said.

For its part, the Associated Press cited an eyewitness who told a local television station that the vehicle was approaching the U.S. side of the border when it suddenly began accelerating at a very high speed.

“All of a sudden it flew into the air and there was a fireball about 30 or 40 feet high. I had never seen anything like that,” said Mike Guenther.

Conflicting reports circulating in the media fueled confusion throughout the afternoon over whether the United States was once again the target of a terrorist attack, particularly in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.

In a report, Fox News claimed the explosion was the result of an attempted terrorist attack with a vehicle containing “a lot of explosives,” while Reuters, citing unnamed Canadian officials, pointed the finger at a driver careless.

During her press briefing, Governor Hochul wanted to calm things down.

“There is no evidence, at this time, of terrorist activity. This is something that I want to make clear to the public, so that everyone calms down,” she reiterated.

“It’s very important to say it, especially with what we see elsewhere in the world. Everyone is on edge and there is talk of an international border; we always felt there was a vulnerability there.”

The two people who died were in the vehicle. Some workers at the border crossing were also injured, but their lives are not threatened.

Canada is monitoring the situation

On the Canadian side, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had been informed of the situation by the National Security and Intelligence Advisor as well as by the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc.

During question period in the House of Commons, Mr. Trudeau said he was in contact with the American authorities, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Transport Canada.

“We are in the process of accumulating all the necessary information. We provide the necessary support by talking to the Americans,” he said.

A little earlier, Minister Dominic LeBlanc did not want to give further details on the circumstances surrounding the event, in particular on the origin of the vehicle and on the theory of a terrorist attack.

“It’s important not to speculate on these kinds of details because in the last minutes we had contradictory information. We will wait to ensure that we indeed have all the necessary information in order to speculate on these kinds of details,” he said in a press scrum.

Mr. LeBlanc mentioned that he will be in contact with his American counterpart during the day. He also wanted to be reassuring by indicating that security measures have been reinforced at border crossings “to protect Canadians”.

The incident comes just a week after FBI Director Christopher Wray warned a US Congressional committee of an increased risk of extremism linked to the war between Israel and Hamas.

For his part, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said provincial law enforcement was also “actively engaged in assessing the situation.”