Car explodes over the Rainbow Bridge
The Sagittarius Bridge was closed to all traffic amid reports of a car exploding outside the border checkpoint on the US side.
Moving on Niagara Street, the car reportedly accelerated in the wrong way to the inspection booth where the explosion occurred.
All international bridges in Veuni are closed to traffic
All international bridges in Veuni are closed to traffic
Police vehicles representing several local police agencies, including the Niagara Falls Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are on the scene after an incident that witnesses told the Niagara Gazette occurred around 11:20 a.m. on Wednesday.
The captain of the Niagara Falls Police Department, who was directing drivers and pedestrians near the checkpoint at the intersection of Niagara Street and Rainbow Boulevard, said he could not comment on the situation before telling reporters that he had to leave the area because it was a “dangerous situation.”
Two witnesses who were in the area when the accident occurred told the newspaper that shortly before the police arrived at the scene, they heard a loud sound that sounded like an explosion on Wednesday morning and saw a large cloud of smoke near the inspection station.
Ivan Vitaliy, a visitor to the waterfall from Ukraine, said he and his friend were in a convenience store at 400-Eleven in the 7-Eleven building on Niagara Street when he noticed the car leaving the parking lot and moving toward the bridge. Vitaliy said he and his friends took him to the bridge area, where he noticed what appeared to be the same car burning near the entrance to the bridge.
“We heard something shattering,” he said. “We saw a fire and a big black smoke.”
Niagara Falls resident Danzier Aldo said he left the parking lot in Seneca Off-Stop Seneca outside Casino Seneca Gravity Niagara Street when he noticed what appeared to be a thick cloud of smoke coming from the area near Tangier and Rainbow.
Geraldo said he drove to the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and Niagara Street and saw what looked like a car on fire.
He said: “It was like a car crashed into the top of a bridge.”
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