Niagara Falls, New York – Police have identified the victims of a deadly car blast at a border crossing between the US and Canada. Kurt Villani and his wife Monica Villani, both 53, died when their car became airborne and crashed on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. They lived 10 miles (16km) south of the crash site in Grand Island, New York.

The incident, which occurred on the eve of American Thanksgiving, prompted a large emergency response and the closure of four border crossings. New York Governor Kathy Hochul later ruled out terrorism, but the cause of the car rapidly accelerating and bursting into flames remains unclear.

The mayor of Niagara Falls in New York, Robert Restaino, told the New York Times that the couple had been driving an older Bentley vehicle and were on their way to a concert in Canada, thought to be a Kiss show that was later cancelled due to illness in the band. Police are investigating several possibilities behind the crash, including whether the car suffered a mechanical failure that caused it to accelerate.

The Rainbow Bridge, which connects motorists and pedestrians between Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Canada, was closed for two days following the incident. Other bridges connecting the US and Canada nearby, the Peace, Queenston-Lewiston, and Whirlpool Rapids Bridges, were temporarily closed but reopened on Wednesday evening. The FBI initially took over the investigation and later confirmed that there were no explosive materials and no terrorism nexus. The case was then handed over to the Niagara Falls Police Department in New York State, which is handling it as a traffic investigation.

As of Friday, the investigation was ongoing and no additional details were provided. The incident caused major traffic disruptions on one of the busiest travel days of the year and resulted in the tragic loss of two lives.