One dead after a Tesla truck caught fire outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas Police News

Authorities said they were investigating the incident in which seven people were slightly injured.

One person was killed and seven others were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded It caught fire It exploded outside a Las Vegas hotel partly owned by the United States President-elect Donald Trump.

The fire started Wednesday at around 8:40 a.m. local time (14:40 GMT) in the valet parking area of ​​the Trump International Las Vegas hotel, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County officials.

“We’re told a 2024 Cybertruck pulled up in front of the hotel. In fact, I can tell you it drove right up to the hotel’s glass entrance doors,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference. press conference. He added: “We saw that smoke began to appear from the car, and then a large explosion occurred from the truck.”

Details are still unfolding, and officials have not yet confirmed the cause of the explosion.

“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.”

Authorities said the truck appeared to be carrying fireworks, and a person was found dead inside the vehicle. A number of people who were in the vicinity of the explosion were treated for minor injuries.

One witness, Anna Bruce, told the Associated Press news agency that she heard three explosions caused by the fire.

“The first incident (happened) where we saw the fire,” Bruce said. “I think the second one was the battery or something like that, and the third one was the big one that smoked up the whole area and that was the moment when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away.”

The incident occurred hours after A Car ramming attack In the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, killing at least 10 people, what authorities are investigating as a possible terrorist act.

It is believed that the suspect in this case was carrying improvised explosive devices in his truck at the time of the collision with the car.

Sheriff McMahill acknowledged that his officers were “fully aware of what happened in New Orleans” and that the incident might benefit their investigation. But he stopped short of linking the two matters.

“As you can imagine, with an explosion occurring here on the famous Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking all the precautions we have to take to keep our community safe. We are looking for secondary devices,” McMahill said at the press conference, adding that there do not appear to be any Another threat to society.

The Cybertruck explosion comes as Trump prepares to take office for a second term on January 20.

Part of his incoming administration includes close advisers, such as the tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Muskwho was appointed by Trump to co-lead a not-yet-established non-governmental body called Government Efficiency Department.

Trump has pitched the new entity as an advisory committee to help streamline the federal government.

In a post on social media, Musk said that Tesla, the electric car company he founded, was investigating Wednesday’s incident.

“The entire Tesla team is investigating this matter now,” Musk said books“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” he added.