Ok... so ABC is saying that the vehicle was flagged as suspicious at a checkpoint and it was being sent to a second checkpoint when the explosion happened. I have to say that really sounds like it isn't an accident.
EDIT: More recent reporting directly contradicts the Fox report below:
A preliminary investigation has found that the car did not contain explosives, according to three law enforcement officials with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.
A law enforcement official briefed on the incident said investigators believed the explosion resulted from the impact of the collision. The car went airborne and struck a cement pillar, according to the official. A suitcase was found near the car but did not contain explosives, the official added.
The FBI is investigating a vehicle explosion Wednesday at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in what sources tell Fox News was an attempted terrorist attack.
Explosives were in the vehicle at the time and two people who were in the car are dead, the sources told Fox News. A border officer was injured.
(Note: I think Fox is the only news org reporting this. And it's Fox.)
If Fox "News" is ever the only entity reporting on a topic, then that topic is likely untrue.
Fox "News" has testified multiple times in sworn court testimony that their content is not fact-based and that "no reasonable person could confuse" their content as factual reporting. They testified that their content is for entertainment only.
We should never, ever look to Fox "News" for news as they are, by their own sworn description, never to be believed.
That's why I said to wait for corroboration. Fox would then be the first to report, not the only.
I think most of us are mature enough to handle unconfirmed reports.
They also didn't make that argument about their content, they made it about their opinion personalities. Saying no reasonable person could take Tucker Carlson seriously isn't the same as saying everything they publish is fiction. Yes, they suck and a world where they didn't exist would be a better world but, unfortunately, we still live in a world where Fox News occasionally breaks a story.
The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed when it hit the structure, caught on fire and exploded. An initial search did not find a secondary explosive or device, the law enforcement officials said, noting this was preliminary information.
I think most reporting is in line with NBC. The Fox report is worth noting but I wouldn't trust it without corroboration, especially with unnamed sources.
I definitely don't want to assume this was something nefarious when there's still the possibility of an accident, but this is pretty suspicious timing for an accident.
Suspicious timing and location. A vehicle "exploding" isn't suspicious, a vehicle exploding at a boarder crossing the day before Thanksgiving is suspicious.
Any explosion at a border is going to be treated as a terrorist event until otherwise shown. But cars also generally don't just explode, so I would also assume criminal malice of some kind at least.
The word explosion is in the headline. No government agency or anyone who was at the scene is quoted using that word. (Edit: not in the linked article at time of writing, FBI Buffalo Field Office has used that term in statements) I question whether there even was an explosion.
Cars are fueled by a flammable liquid. The gas can catch fire, and cars do catch fire from time to time. Cars don't have pressurized fuel tanks, so will burn rather than explode.
However, there is enough fuel for a car fire to be large enough that a layperson might mistake it for an explosion.
This could be an accident. It could be a terrorist attack. But we can be sure that for-profit news companies have an incentive to use whatever language sounds most scary. If it bleeds it leads, as the saying goes.
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.
Ron Rienas, GM of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, told ABC News all four Canada-U.S. bridges over the Niagara River have been closed out of an abundance of caution while the Rainbow Bridge investigation continues.
Ok that sucks, but following the preliminary investigation if there are no significant findings, Lewiston, Whirlpool and Peace Bridge should open up not after long.
We went that way during a trip to Niagara Falls and it was slow as fuck. Like you'll wait in line for 45 minutes or longer. And then you have to be told to turn around because of this. People are going to be super pissed off.
Yeah that really is annoying... the quickest options by car are either park and fly, take a vehicle ferry from a port somewhere, drive to Windsor then all the way through Ohio, or head to the Gananoque/Thousand Islands Bridge, altogether up to a half day delay for anyone.