At least 35 dead in car crash in China | Crime News

According to police, a 62-year-old suspect drove his car into a crowd in southern Zhuhai, also injuring 43 people.

At least 35 people were killed and 43 injured after a car plowed into a crowd outside a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said.

The hit-and-run occurred at 7:48 p.m. (11:48 GMT) on Monday when a man drove a small SUV into a large group of people exercising outside the sports center. This was only reported by the police on Tuesday.

Zhuhai police said the suspect, a 62-year-old man surnamed Fan, was being treated at a hospital after injuring himself with a knife in his car.

Police called it a “serious and vicious attack” but said the 43 people injured were not in life-threatening condition.

A video of the scene after the attack, confirmed by Reuters news agency, showed at least 20 people lying on the ground. Shouts of “terrorist” could be heard as ambulances arrived to take the injured to hospital.

Fan was arrested by police at the scene after he tried to escape, police said, adding that he stabbed himself, resulting in serious neck injuries.

Police said an initial investigation revealed the suspect's motivation was “dissatisfaction with the division of marital assets resulting from his divorce.”

The suspect is currently in a coma after inflicting injuries on his neck and other parts of his body and is unable to undergo interrogation, police added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered extensive efforts to treat the injured and called for severe punishment for the perpetrator. According to state broadcaster CCTV, the central government has sent a team to help deal with the case.

Violent crime is rare in China due to tight security measures and strict gun laws. However, the increase in reports of knife attacks in major cities has drawn public attention to safety in public spaces.

In October, five people were injured in a knife attack in the capital Beijing outside one of the city's best primary schools. A month earlier, a Japanese student was fatally stabbed outside his school in the city of Shenzhen.

A Chinese man stabbed four U.S. university lecturers and a Chinese citizen who had tried to intervene in a public park in Jilin, northeast, in June.

Zhuhai is hosting China's biggest annual air show this week, showcasing a new stealth fighter for the first time.