TERRIFYING footage from the car crash and explosion on New York’s Rainbow Bridge has been released as the investigation continues.
The incident, as Governor Kathy Hocul called it, took place at 11:27 am on Wednesday during one of the busiest travel days of the year when a vehicle crashed on Rainbow Bridge near Niagara Falls, sparking an explosion and massive fire.
During the Wednesday evening press conference, New York Governor Hochul said that there was “no sign of terrorist activity with respect to this crash.”
“We’re not aware of any threats in the area,” she continued.
Hochul said the vehicle was traveling at an “extraordinarily high rate of speed.”
“When you see this video your jaw will drop.”
Hochul said the car flew over an eight-foot-tall fence.
Video shows the white car accelerating around a corner toward the border and becoming airborne in the moments before it crashed into a Customs and Border Patrol facility.
Debris from the vehicle could be seen flying through the air moments after the flames began.
Clouds of thick black smoke were billowing from the scene.
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‘THE WORLD IS WATCHING’
The investigation into the incident that left two passengers dead continues.
Hochul said the scene is sprawling as pieces of the car were scattered throughout the area in the aftermath of the crash and explosion.
A Customs and Border Patrol officer who was working in a booth at the time of the crash was treated and released at a nearby hospital out of an abundance of caution.
No other injuries have been reported.
Hochul was adamant that at this time, there did not appear to have been terroristic intent.
The vehicle has been traced to a western New York resident, Hochul said.
“The world is watching to find out what happened here,” the governor said, noting that tensions have been high since the October 7 Hamas terror attack.
“We’re going to make sure the public is safe before they go back on the Rainbow Bridge.”
Other international borders between the United States and Canada have reopened, but Amtrak service remains suspended in the area.
Contrary to earlier reports, the Buffalo airport is operating normally, Hochul confirmed.
‘LIKE SOMETHING YOU SEE IN HOLLYWOOD’
Eyewitness accounts of the incident continue to roll in.
“It hit a concrete barrier and went up,” Rickie Wilson told The New York Times.
Wilson saw the car take flight.
“It came down and hit an inspection booth. Then there was a lot of black smoke, and then a fire. It looked like a bonfire,” Wilson continued.
“The car was in the air – And not three or four feet in the air. It was like something you see in Hollywood.”
Mike Guenther and his wife were walking near Rainbow Bridge in the moments before the crash.
He saw the vehicle swerve and hit a fence before becoming airborne.
“And then all of a sudden, he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30 or 40 feet high,” Guenther told local CBS affiliate WGRZ.
“I never saw anything like it.”
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Caitlin Hornik
