Niagara Falls car explosion – live: Rainbow bridge blast kills two in possible terrorism at US-Canada border

Thick smoke, flames and a singed security booth could be seen in photos and video taken by bystanders and posted on social media. Videos showed that the fire was in a US Customs and Border Protection area just east of the main vehicle checkpoint.

Speaking to WGRZ-TV, witness Mike Guenther said he saw a vehicle speeding toward the crossing from the US side of the border when it swerved to avoid another car, crashed into a fence and exploded.

“All of a sudden he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30 or 40 feet high,” Mr Guenther told the station. “I never saw anything like it.”

The White House is “closely monitoring” the incident at the Rainbow Bridge crossing near Niagara Falls.

“The White House is closely monitoring the situation and law enforcement is on-scene and investigating,” a White House official told The Independent

President Joe Biden is currently in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending the Thanksgiving holiday with family, according to CNN.

The two occupants of a car that exploded at the US-Canada border crossing at Niagara Falls are dead, a law enforcement source told CNN.

The vehicle had been attempting to enter the US from the Canadian side of the border on the bridge that connects Canada to New York State.

It went through the initial checkpoint where they examine passports and licenses and then was directed to another area for a secondary search, CNN reported.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said that national authorities were monitoring the situation “minute by minute with our American counterparts”.

Speaking to reporters, Mr LeBlanc said that he and prime minister Justin Trudeau were receiving “regular updates” from law enforcement, but that to speculate on the cause of the blast would be “simply not responsible”.

Soonafter Mr Trudeau told the Canadian parliament “there are lot of questions and we are following up to get as many answers as possible”.

He added that they were taking the situation “extraordinarily seriously”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been briefed on the situation unfolding in Niagara Falls.

CNN report that police are due to give an update shortly.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said provincial law enforcement was “actively engaged” with the unfolding situation.

“I’ve been made aware of the situation unfolding on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Our provincial law enforcement is actively engaged in assessing the situation. They are working with local law enforcement and are providing support as required,” Mr Ford wrote on X.

The FBI field office in Buffalo, New York, described the situation as “very fluid” in a statement posted to X shortly following the incident.

“The FBI Buffalo Field Office is investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in Niagara Falls The FBI is coordinating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation,” the statement read.

“As this situation is very fluid, that’s all we can say at this time.”

City of Niagara officials said that the incident on Wednesday involved a vehicle trying to enter the US, with the FBI Field Office in Buffalo describing the incident as an “explosion.”

The Rainbow Bridge connects the US and Canadian cities of Niagara Falls and is located less than a mile from the famed waterfalls themselves.

The Peace Bridge, Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, Whirlpool Bridge, and Rainbow Bridge were all also closed in both directions

Niagara Falls partly freezes as temperature dips in US after bomb cyclone.

Graeme Massie is following the latest details for The Independent.