According to Toronto Police Duty Insp. Phillip Sinclair, the accident occurred at around 12:10 a.m. local time on Oct. 24, when an EV carrying "five occupants" was "going at a high rate of speed," lost control and struck a guardrail and a concrete pillar on Toronto's Lakeshore Boulevard East.
The EV immediately caught fire, causing it to shut down and disable the electronic doors, leading to three men aged 26, 29 and 32, and a 30-year-old woman to burn to death.
Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop said that they are looking into the possibility of "the intensity of the fire" being linked to the battery cells in the car.
The only survivor of the fire was a woman in her 20s who was saved when a passerby smashed a window of the burning Tesla Model Y car. Her four other friends, identified as Jay Sisodiya, Digvijay Patel, Neelraj Gohil and his sister Ketaba Gohil, died.
Sinclair told CTV News that the sole survivor of the crash was rescued by a 73-year-old Canada Post worker named Rick Harper.
"Thanks very much to that bystander," Sinclair said. "We have been speaking to them, and obviously they also (are) deeply affected by this incident, a very horrific scene for that bystander to step in."
Harper told local media agencies that when he came upon the crash, others were already gathered outside the vehicle and were pounding at the back passenger window.
"Then somebody was yelling, 'You got a bar? You got a bar? Somebody's in there,'" he said and recalled that he managed to grab a bar he had from his truck and swung at the back window before handing it over to another bystander who successfully broke it and pulled a woman out of the backseat.
"I would assume the young lady would have tried to open the door from the inside because she was pretty desperate to get out," Harper said. "I don't know if that was the battery or what. But she couldn't get out."
Meanwhile, in the United States, there are nine investigations involving the Tesla Model Y, ranging from "unexpected brake activation" to "sudden unintended acceleration," according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Tesla tops list of brands with highest fatal accident rate in new study
According to a review of NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System data by online automotive research platform iSeeCars.com, Tesla tops the government's list of the most dangerous car brands. Kia, Buick, Dodge and Hyundai rounded out the top five automakers with the most frequent occupant fatalities.
"New cars are safer than they've ever been," iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer said in a statement. "Between advanced chassis design and driver assist technology, today's cars provide excellent occupant protection. But these features are being countered by distracted driving and higher rates of speed, leading to rising accident and death rates in recent years."
Meanwhile, the Hyundai Venue compact SUV topped the NHTSA's list of most dangerous cars. Chevrolet Corvette, Mitsubishi Mirage, Porsche 911 and Honda CR-V Hybrid rounded out the top five vehicles with the highest fatal accident rate, exceeding the overall average by at least 450 percent.
The Tesla Model Y, which was involved in the horrifying Toronto incident, ranked sixth with fatal crash rate that is 370 percent higher than average. (Related: Tesla recalls more than 1.8 MILLION units over car software's inability to detect an unlatched hood.)
The study noted that small cars have a higher rate of fatal accidents because they're at a disadvantage in accidents with larger vehicles. Sports and performance cars also had a higher rate of accident fatalities because of their drivers' behavior.
Head over to RoboCars.news for more stories related to terrifying incidents involving electric cars.
Watch the video below where an EV fire nearly burned down a house.
This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.
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Mercedes-Benz EV catches FIRE in underground parking lot in South Korea, sparking safety concerns.
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