One person died and seven others were injured Wednesday when a Tesla Cybertruck that appeared to be carrying fireworks caught fire and exploded outside US President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas, authorities said.
Officials with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department said at a press conference that one person died inside the futuristic-looking truck and they were working to extricate the body. Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries and some 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 spokesman said in a statement.
According to a law enforcement official, the truck was rented through the Turo app and appeared to have a load of fireworks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
A Turo spokesman did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Tesla is investigating, Musk says
Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive, a person 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, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, told reporters. “We don’t have many answers.”
President Joe Biden was briefed on the blast, which came hours after a driver plowed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 10 people. The suspect was killed in a shootout with police.
“The entire senior team at Tesla is investigating this matter now,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a statement on X, the social media platform he owns. “We have never seen anything like this.”
The witness heard 3 explosions
In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce, who came from Brazil, said she heard three explosions.
“The first one we saw the fire, the second one was apparently the battery or something, and the third one was the big one that smoked the whole area and that’s when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away. ”, said Bruce.
Her traveling companion, Alcides Antunes, shared video he took of flames engulfing the sides of the silver vehicle.
The 64-story hotel is located near the Las Vegas Strip and across from the Las Vegas Fashion Show mall.
Eric Trump, a son of the president-elect and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, tweeted about the X fire, praising the fire department and local law enforcement “for their quick response and professionalism.”
