Authorities say they are investigating the incident, in which seven people were slightly injured.
One person was killed and seven were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck caught on fire and exploded outside a Las Vegas hotel that was partially owned by the United States President-elect Donald Trump.
The fireWednesday at around 8:40 am local time (14:40 GMT) in the valet area of the Trump International Las Vegas Hotel, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County officials.
“We were told that Cybertruck 2024 went up in front of the hotel. And of course, I can tell you, he pulled up to the glass front doors of the hotel,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at the event. press conference. “We saw that smoke starts to appear from the vehicle, and then there is a huge explosion from the truck. “
Details are still emerging, and the cause of the explosion is yet to be determined by officials.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, the acting special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), told reporters. “We don't have a lot of answers.”
The authorities said that the truck appeared to be carrying fireworks, and that a person was found dead inside the vehicle. Several people near the explosion were treated for minor injuries.
One witness, Ana Bruce, told The Associated Press news agency that she heard three explosions as a result of the fire.
“The first one (that happened) where we saw the fire,” Bruce said. “The second one was, I believe, the battery or something like that, and the third one was the big one that was smoking the whole area and this was the time when he was asked to everyone evacuate and stay away. “
The incident happened a few hours after a car attack in the Louisiana city of New Orleans that killed at least 10 people, in what authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism.
It is believed that the suspect in this case was carrying improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in his truck at the time of the car crash.
Sheriff McMahill admitted that his officers were “well aware of what happened in New Orleans” and that the incident could inform their investigation. But he stopped connecting the two.
“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking every step we need to take to keep our community safe. We're looking for secondary devices,” McMahill said at the press conference, adding that there did not appear to be any other threats to the community.
The Cybertruck explosion comes as Trump prepares to take office for a second term on January 20.
Part of his administration includes close advisors, such as a tech billionaire and the CEO of Tesla Elon Muskwho Trump has tapped to co-lead a yet-to-be-formed nongovernmental organization called the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump has installed the new entity as an advisory panel to streamline the federal government.
In a social media post, Musk said Tesla, the electric vehicle company he founded, was investigating Wednesday's incident.
“The entire Tesla senior team is currently investigating this matter,” Musk said writesaying: “We've never seen anything like this.”
