One person died and seven others were injured Wednesday when a Tesla Cybertruck who appeared to be carrying fireworks caught fire and exploded outside a Las Vegas hotel owned by the president-elect of the United States that of Donald Trump company, authorities said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire officials said at a news conference that one person died inside the futuristic-looking van and they were working to get out the body. Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries and several were taken to hospital.
The fire in the valet area of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas was reported at 8:40 a.m., a county spokesperson said in a statement.
According to a law enforcement official, the truck was rented through the Turo app and appeared to contain a load of fireworks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
A Turo spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on has nothing to do with the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.
“The entire senior team at Tesla is investigating this matter at this time,” Musk said in a previous post on the platform after attending a New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive, a source familiar with the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, told reporters. “We don’t have a lot of answers.”
Police block off the area after a vehicle caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil).
President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion.
The Las Vegas explosion occurred a few hours later a driver crashed a truck into a crowd in the famous French Quarter of New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 10 people before being shot dead by police.
In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce, visiting from Brazil, said she heard three explosions.
“The first one we saw the fire, the second one I guess was the battery or something like that, and the third one was the big fire that was smoking the whole area and was the point where they told everyone to evacuate and stay away,” Bruce said.
His traveling companion, Alcides Antunes, showed video he took of flames lapping the sides of the silver vehicle.
The 64-story hotel is right off the Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping center.
Eric Trump, son of the president-elect and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, posted about the fire on the social media platform speed and professionalism.
Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Zach Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
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