35 people were killed when a driver hit a crowd in a sports center

HONG KONG – Thirty-five people were killed and another 43 injured when a driver deliberately rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports center in southern China, police said Tuesday.

A 62-year-old man was arrested at the scene of an accident after driving his small SUV into people exercising at the Zhuhai Sports Center late Monday night, the Zhuhai Public Security Bureau said in a statement, calling the incident “serious and vicious “.

Police identified the man by his surname, Fan. He was in a coma after injuring himself with a knife in his car, police said, adding that he was still undergoing treatment and was not allowed to be questioned.

An initial investigation indicated that Fan was dissatisfied with the division of assets following his divorce, police said.

Fan is currently in custody. The 43 people injured in the incident are currently not in mortal danger, police said.

Videos geolocated by NBC News show people lying on the ground near the sports center covered in blood, some crying.

In a relatively rare move, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for Fan to be “strictly punished in accordance with the law,” state media Xinhua News reported.

According to Xinhua, a central government working group was deployed to the site at Xi's direction to lead and monitor response efforts.

The incident occurred on the eve of the Zhuhai Airshow, the country's largest aerospace exhibition, where China debuted the J-35A jet, its latest model of stealth fighter aircraft.

News of the death toll sent shockwaves across China's social media, although the topic only ranked 11th on Weibo, China's X-like platform that is subject to strict internet censorship.

“I'm completely speechless, apart from being shocked. I need a moment of silence to calm down,” one person wrote on Weibo.

There have been a number of recent attacks on civilians, including children and foreigners, in China.

In September, a bus rammed a group of students and parents outside a school in the eastern province of Shandong, killing at least 11 people.

That same month, a 10-year-old Japanese boy was killed after he was stabbed on his way to a Japanese school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

In October, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai.