US investigating battery fire in fatal Tesla crash

The US National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday sent a team to investigate a Tesla Model S crash that left two people dead and another injured in Florida.

The 2014 Tesla was reportedly traveling at high speed when it hit a wall then caught fire on Tuesday, the NTSB said in a release.

Autopilot self-driving capabilities of the Tesla were not expected to be involved, the NTSB said.

Two 18-year-old Florida men died in the crash, while a third was hospitalized, according to local media reports that said it remained to be determined why the Tesla went off a road and slammed into a wall.

NTSB investigators dispatched Wednesday were to focus on a battery fire ignited by the crash in the coastal city of Fort Lauderdale.

“NTSB has a long history of investigating emerging transportation technologies, such as lithium ion battery fires in commercial aviation,” NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said in a release.

“The goal of these investigations is to understand the impact of these emerging transportation technologies when they are part of a transportation accident.”

A Tesla statement published in Florida media reports said the car maker is cooperating with investigators and it did not appear that the Autopilot feature was engaged at the time of the crash. (AFP)