Thirty-five people were killed and 43 injured after a car drove into a crowd Monday evening in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, local police said Tuesday.
Authorities had reported such an incident as early as Monday, but police then only reported injuries, and videos were later removed from social media.
On Tuesday, police now announced that a “serious and vicious attack” took place at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leaving 35 people dead and 43 injured.
The vital prognosis of the injured is not engaged, according to the same source.
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,” said the police in a press release.
The driver, named Fan, was arrested while he was stabbing himself with a knife “and was sent to hospital for treatment,” according to the same source.
He is in a coma after injuring his neck and “is not in a condition to be questioned”, the police added.
Initial elements of the investigation suggest that the man may have committed his act because of “his dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce”.
Videos of the attack circulated on social media Monday evening, but most had disappeared by Tuesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping asked that “everything necessary” be done to treat the injured, and wanted the perpetrator to be “punished in accordance with the law”.
The most important Chinese civil and military air show is currently taking place in the same city.
The country has seen a series of violent attacks in recent months.
A man killed three people and injured 15 in a stabbing attack at a Shanghai supermarket in October.
In September, a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed in the southern city of Shenzen and died of his injuries, sparking a strong reaction from Tokyo.
And in July, a vehicle drove into passers-by in the city of Changsa (center), killing eight people.
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