{"id":83649,"date":"2023-11-25T09:42:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T09:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.estaql.com\/rainbow-bridge-couple-killed-in-niagara-falls-fireball-crash-named-us-news\/"},"modified":"2023-11-25T09:42:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T09:42:26","slug":"rainbow-bridge-couple-killed-in-niagara-falls-fireball-crash-named-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/rainbow-bridge-couple-killed-in-niagara-falls-fireball-crash-named-us-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow Bridge: Couple killed in Niagara Falls fireball crash named | US News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rainbow Bridge: Couple killed in Niagara Falls fireball crash named | US News<\/h2>\n

Rainbow Bridge: Couple killed in Niagara Falls fireball crash named | US News<\/p>\n

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A couple killed when their luxury car slammed into a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls and exploded in a fireball triggering a security scare have been identified.<\/p>\n

Police have named the victims as husband and wife Kurt and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island, New York, whose family owns a lumber business and several hardware stores in the Buffalo area.<\/p>\n

An investigation is under way into what caused the Bentley Flying Spur to crash at the Rainbow Bridge<\/strong>, linking New York state and Ontario, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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‘This vehicle was incinerated’<\/span>
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Security footage showed the vehicle travelling from the US side of the border at high speed before hitting an object, flying into the air and then hurtling into a row of security booths where it burst into flames.<\/p>\n

A US customs officer suffered minor injuries at the scene and was treated at a nearby hospital before being released later.<\/p>\n

The incident immediately raised concerns both sides of the border of a terrorist attack, prompting the closure of four US-Canadian border crossings in the area and a halt to international flights at Buffalo International Airport.<\/p>\n

An initial investigation by the authorities, including the FBI, found it was not terror-related and turned the case over to local police.<\/p>\n

Traffic investigators are looking at whether medical or mechanical issues may have contributed to the tragedy, Niagara Falls police chief John Faso said.<\/p>\n

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A statement issued by the victims’ family said: “We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all that extended prayers, condolences and well wishes.<\/p>\n

“At this point, we are requesting privacy so we may begin the process of healing.”<\/p>\n

Read more on Sky News:
George Floyd’s killer Derek Chauvin stabbed in prison<\/strong>
Fears over invasion of ‘super pigs’ in US<\/strong><\/p>\n

The president of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce said the couple’s support for their community was well known.<\/p>\n

“They gave from their heart, so they didn’t make a big deal about it,” Eric Fiebelkorn said.<\/p>\n

New York governor Kathy Hochul described the crash scene as “surreal” with the vehicle “basically incinerated”, leaving little behind but the engine and a scattering of charred debris.<\/p>\n

She said: “You actually had to look at it and say, was this generated by AI?<\/p>\n

“Because it was so surreal to see. How high in the air this vehicle went, and then the crash, and the explosion, and the fire.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Rainbow Bridge: Couple killed in Niagara Falls fireball crash named | US News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rainbow Bridge: Couple killed in Niagara Falls fireball crash named | US News Rainbow Bridge: Couple killed in Niagara Falls fireball crash named | US News A couple killed when their luxury car slammed into a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls and exploded in a fireball triggering a security scare have been identified. Police have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-estaql"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}