Images of the vehicle fire quickly circulated on social media, showing large flames bursting from the electric vehicle near the entrance of the hotel.
One person was killed and seven others were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning.
Officials said that the vehicle was observed completely engulfed in flames in the valet area of the hotel.
A person inside the Tesla died, while seven other people in the surrounding area suffered minor injuries, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a news conference. Two of those injured were transported to a local hospital.
Guests of the hotel were immediately evacuated and transferred to the Resorts World Hotel, according to the sheriff.
Tesla founder Elon Musk later said that explosives were discovered inside the rented vehicle.
“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,” Musk wrote in a post on the X social media platform. “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Gas canisters and large fireworks mortars were found in the vehicle, authorities confirmed in a Wednesday evening press conference.
The sheriff also noted that the walls of the electric vehicle remained fully intact during the explosion and that damage to the surrounding area was limited because of “the fact that this was a Cybertruck.”
The front glass doors of the Trump hotel “were not even broken,” McMahill said.
McMahill said the vehicle was rented in Colorado, arrived in Las Vegas at 7:30 a.m., and “went up and down” Las Vegas Boulevard before finally parking at the Trump Hotel. It was parked for 15–20 seconds before it exploded.
Authorities know the identity of the person who rented the Cybertruck and declined to release details.
