NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Law enforcement officials say the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls remains closed until further notice due to a vehicle explosion that happened Wednesday morning in Niagara Falls, NY.
According to the City of Niagara Falls, the incident involved a vehicle that was traveling into the United States from Canada.
At 2:30 p.m., NBC confirmed two people inside the vehicle are deceased, and that senior law enforcement officials have said one Customs and Border Protection officer suffered minor injuries.
Law enforcement officials are working to see if the incident was intentional, or what the motive was.
The incident has raised concerns on both sides of the border. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials were “taking this extraordinary seriously,” and the White House said President Joe Biden was “closely following developments.”
The two deceased people were in the vehicle, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press and NBC News.
“This is obviously a very serious situation in Niagara Falls,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Parliament before he excused himself from Question Period in the House of Commons to be briefed further.
The blast happened on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the two countries across the Niagara River. Three other bridges between western New York and Ontario were quickly closed as a precaution, and the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport began security checks on all cars and told passengers to expect additional screenings.
Trudeau said that “additional measures” were being contemplated and activated at border crossings across Canada.
The FBI’s field office in Buffalo said in a statement that it was investigating the blast, and investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also responding to the scene.