At least thirty-five people were killed and forty-three injured after a car drove into a crowd early Tuesday evening, November 12, in Zhuhai, southern China, local police announced. “A serious and vicious attack took place at the Zhuahu Sports Center, where a suspect drove a car into people who were training, leaving 35 people dead and 43 injured”the police said in a statement.
The driver, a 62-year-old man, “forced entry at the wheel of a small SUV and drove into the city's sports center, knocking down people who were training in the interior aisles”the police said. Driver arrested while stabbing himself with a knife “and was sent to the hospital for treatment”according to the same source. He is in a coma after injuring his neck and “is not fit to undergo interrogation”added the police.
Closure of the center
BBC channel specifies that, according to the preliminary investigation, the attack was triggered by the suspect's discontent regarding a disagreement linked to his divorce. Investigations are still ongoing.
According to state media, one of the four hospitals in the region said it had treated around twenty injured people. As of Tuesday evening, searches on Chinese social media regarding the incident had been heavily censored.
The Xiangzhou district sports center regularly attracts hundreds of residents, who can run on the athletics track or play football. Following the incident, the center announced its closure until further notice. The attack comes on the eve of the country's largest aviation exhibition organized by the People's Liberation Army, which is held annually in the city. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for “everything necessary” to treat the injured, and hoped that the perpetrator would be “punished according to law”.
