Smoke billows from Niagara Falls explosion as two people dead in vehicle blast
The cause of Wednesday’s Rainbow Bridge vehicle explosion remains something of a mystery, with investigators now probing whether a mechanical failure could be to blame.
Robert Restaino, the mayor of Niagara Falls, told The New York Times that the Bentley the couple, identified on Friday as Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani, was driving in was an older model and may have experienced some sort of mechanical glitch that caused it to suddenly accelerate as it approached the border checkpoint.
Dramatic footage captured the vehicle speeding up before it hit a curb on the US side of the border, became airborne and then combusted, killing the pair inside.
The blast instantly sparked fears of a terrorist attack but New York Governor Kathy Hochul and FBI officials later said there was “no sign of terrorist activity”.
Instead, law enforcement sources told CNN that the victims were a local New York man and his wife, who have not been named, who were planning to attend a KISS concert in Canada on Wednesday night.
The gig was cancelled and so they stopped by the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino before the vehicle made the ill-fated trip towards the US-Canada border crossing.
