What happened on FDR Drive? Tesla accident in Manhattan claims life of female driver

An accident that took place on Tuesday on FDR Drive in Manhattan, where a Tesla overturned and began to spontaneously combust, claimed the life of a female driver and left the passenger heavily injured.

At the time, the woman was headed uptown when she lost control of her vehicle, causing her to collide with a guardrail near E. 70th St. on the Upper East Side. The incident took place at around 2:45 a.m., Daily News has reported. The white Tesla rolled over, flinging both the woman and her 26-year-old male passenger from the car, moments before it caught on fire.

---

Everything we know about the FDR Drive crash as witnesses say the killed female driver was speeding

The female driver, who has yet to be identified, was pronounced deceased at the scene on FDR Drive. Witnesses say she was speeding before she crashed, as they told WABC Eyewitness News.

“At least 120, 130 [mph]. At least. The damage was just so much that it split in half. And that just started going on fire.”

As for the male passenger, CBS News has reported that he was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and he was in a stable condition at the time. Daily News has reported that he is expected to recover.

Investigation into the crash on FDR Drive remains ongoing, and following the incident, about two miles of the FDR Drive was closed off from usage. CBS News has reported that it was closed for hours, resulting in massive delays on the East Side.

During this time, about 60 firefighters and an FDNY hazmat team were deployed to put out the inferno blanketing the Tesla, which is powered by lithium-ion batteries. Daily Beast reports that their mission turned successful by 3:50 a.m. The vehicle was then loaded onto a tow truck and taken to an impound to prevent potential flare ups.

"We have a pretty vociferous, nasty fire to deal with, high temperatures of fire that's very difficult to extinguish," said Professor of fire science Glenn Corbett, per ABC 7. "Firefighters have developed tools now to slide water spray devices underneath the car to try to cool it off," he added.

CBS News has reported that all the southbound traffic had been concentrated on the RFK bridge at the time, while the northbound traffic had taken over the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Eventually, the former had been redirected onto the local streets at East 96th Street, while the latter was diverted to East 63rd Street.

---

Drivers were asked to steer clear of the East Side and opt to commute via the local streets or the West Side Highway instead. Nonetheless, the southbound lane eventually opened up at around 7 a.m., while the northbound lanes were open for public use by 8:30 a.m.