The United States and Canadian governments went into high alert, four international bridges were closed and cross-border train travel came to a halt after a car exploded on the American side of a Niagara Falls bridge, upending travel plans and sowing fear on the busiest travel day of the year.
Two people died Wednesday in the crash after hitting a median at the Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge in New York as they sped toward Canada, but Gov. Kathy Hochul said investigators found no indications of terrorism. The car flew over an eight-foot fence before it burst into a cloud of flames and oily smoke, she said.
Video shows a scene that looks like it was “generated by A.I.,” Ms. Hochul said. The only piece of the car left was the engine, she said, and pieces of the vehicle were scattered for yards near an inspection station.
“There was a horrific incident, a crash, an explosion, loss of life,” she said. “But at this time, no known terrorist connection.”
But the crash, which happened around 11:30 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving, set off a race to protect residents and discover what happened. With tension across the globe running high because of the Israel-Hamas war, fear spread at the speed of the internet.
Robert Restaino, mayor of Niagara Falls, N.Y., said in an interview that his office had been inundated with calls and that he had found himself confronting conspiracy theories that were exploding online. Rumors spread about a second car, a rental truck, a threat to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. All were untrue.
“It really just started to unfold into one bizarre, frightening terror narrative after another,” Mr. Restaino said.
In the hours after the crash, however, officials took no chances. Buffalo’s Peace Bridge to Canada was temporarily closed, as were the Lewiston-Queenston and Whirlpool Bridges. Other crossings were on “heightened alert status.” The Rainbow Bridge remained impassable.
Amtrak officials said service between New York State and Toronto was suspended, and officers from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority were screening cars coming into the Buffalo and Niagara Falls airports for explosives. About 400 miles away, Mayor Eric Adams said the New York Police Department would post officers at entry points to the city.
In Niagara Falls, the bridge was blocked by a ranks of law enforcement vehicles whose lights illuminated the bridge, which is about 500 yards from the towering falls, a tourist attraction for centuries. The herd of cruisers became an attraction of its own by late Wednesday afternoon. Tourists took pictures of the cars and military vehicles. Some posed for selfies.
Rickie Wilson, a 65-year-old tour guide, said he had seen the speeding car leave the ground as it crashed.
“It hit a concrete barrier and went up,” he said. “It came down and hit an inspection booth.” He added: “I know I sound crazy, but 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, who was interviewed by local television station WGRZ-TV, said he was walking down Main Street in Niagara Falls, N.Y., with his wife when the car sped past them, headed toward a border checkpoint at the bridge. Mr. Guenther said the driver lost control after swerving to avoid a car ahead.
Surveillance video shared by NBC News showed the vehicle speeding and taking flight. Then it showed flames. The car came to rest in a secondary inspection area a few feet from a customs agent who was slightly injured, said Mr. Restaino, the mayor.
Mr. Restaino said in an interview that investigators had confirmed there were two occupants, a man and a woman, who were believed to be a couple in their late 40s or early 50s. Investigators believe they may have been coming from the nearby Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino, though their destination was unclear, he said.
As the evening wore on, he said key questions remained: “Where was he going? Was this an intentional act on his part? Was it a medical event?”
“There’s a number of things that still haven’t been fleshed out,” Mr. Restaino added.
The mayhem immediately unsettled two national capitals already on edge because of the roiling war between Israel and Hamas.
President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed in Washington.
“We are taking this extremely seriously,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons in brief comments before he left for an update on the situation.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s public safety minister, said that “All measures are being taken to ensure that people will be safe.” And on the Ontario side of the bridge, three heavy snowplows were brought in to block the entrance.
On the night before Thanksgiving, the Rainbow Bridge near Niagara Falls would ordinarily be full of cars, creating a river of brake lights. But as the sun set, the only lights visible were those atop dozens of police vehicles. Officers to the bridge’s north, east and south directed traffic. The parking lot of the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino, ordinarily full, was virtually empty.
PJ Ward-Brown of Asheboro, N.C., who had been on board a trolley with his family going through Niagara Falls State Park at the time of the crash, said the incident would upend his Thanksgiving plans. The family had planned to go into Canada.
The mist from the falls and overcast skies had obstructed his view of the bridge at the time of the explosion. But when the pleasure trip was done, he found his car was blocked in a cordoned-off area. A State Police officer took his keys and retrieved it.
“This is all pretty scary,” Mr. Ward-Brown said.
Glenn Thrush reported from Washington, Ian Austen from Ottawa and Ana Ley from New York.