Two occupants of a car that exploded after it sped the wrong way into an inspection booth at the Rainbow Bridge were killed in the blast, according to law enforcement sources at the scene.
The Wednesday morning incident shut down all international crossings in the Western New York area.
Traveling down Niagara Street, the car sped onto the bridge plaza, went through a fence separating the inbound lanes from the outbound lanes, and toward the inspection lanes where it exploded, according to law enforcement sources.
Two occupants in the car were killed in the explosion.
A border protection agent was injured in the blast. He’s being treated for non-life threatening injuries at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, sources said.
Patrol cars representing multiple local police agencies, including the Niagara Falls Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, responded to the scene following the incident that witnesses told the Niagara Gazette occurred at around 11:20 a.m. Wednesday.
The FBI’s field office in Buffalo said in a statement that it was investigating the explosion on the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the two countries across the Niagara River.
Photos and video taken by news organizations and posted on social media showed a security booth that had been singed by flames.
Further information wasn’t immediately available.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she had been briefed on the incident and was “closely monitoring the situation.”
The Rainbow Bridge is one of four border crossings connecting Ontario to western New York.
The others are Lewiston, Whirlpool and Peace Bridge. The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission reports all four crossings are closed.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.