12 November 2024 06:08 pm Views - 7467
Daily Mail - At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a driver who was allegedly unhappy with his divorce settlement drove into a crowd in China, police have revealed.
Shocking images show people lying on the ground moments after the ramming attack which targeted people exercising outside a sports centre in Zhuhai, in the Guangdong province, southeastern China, on Monday night.
Police arrested a 62-year-old suspect, surnamed Fan, as he attempted to flee the scene but he is now in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds.
He is said to have carried out the atrocity after flying into a rage over the outcome of a property settlement following his divorce.
Video footage posted to social media showed dozens of people lying still on the ground outside the running track at Zhuhai sports centre, which was built in 2008 for the Beijing Olympics and has since been used by local groups.
Many of those injured were wearing clothing designed for exercise, and were attended to by other members of the public.
Witnesses told local media that the injured were made up of 'a group of middle-aged and elderly people who were exercising on the track', which was later surrounded by investigating cops.
'A passenger car hit a number of pedestrians at the sports centre in Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai City and drove away,' the police said in a statement.
Witness Mr Chen, who is part of a walking group that gathered at the stadium for their regular walk on a nearby path, told Chinese news magazine Caixin that a car suddenly charged towards his group at a high speed, 'knocking down many people'.
'It drove in a loop, and people were hurt in all areas of the running track - east, south, west, and north,' a second witness told Caixin.
A man at the emergency clinic of Shang Chong Hospital in Zhuhai said they had received some slightly injured people and most of them left after the treatment.
Zhuhai People's Hospital said they received the injured, but did not offer a detailed number of the casualties. Calls to the Xiangzhou District People's Hospital and the Third People's Hospital of Zhuhai went unanswered.
Many elderly people as well as teenagers and children were injured in the ramming attack, Chinese media reports.
Videos showed a firefighter performing CPR on a person, as people were told to leave the scene. They were shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, who is better known on X as Teacher Li.
His account posts daily news based on user submissions. Dozens of people were lying prone on the running track in the sports center in the videos. In one, a woman says 'my foot is broken.'
By Tuesday morning, searches for the incident on Chinese social media were heavily censored on Chinese social media platforms as the annual Zhuhai Airshow opened Tuesday.
A search on Weibo for the sports center only turned up a few posts, with only a couple referring to the fact something had happened, without pictures or details. Articles by Chinese media about the incident from Monday night were taken down.
Chinese internet censors take extra care to scrub social media ahead of and during major events, such as the meeting of the National People's Congress, where the government announces its major policy initiatives for the coming year.
The sports center for the city district of Xiangzhou regularly attracts hundreds of residents, where they can run on the track field, play soccer and social dance. Following the incident, the center announced it would be closed until further notice.
Deadly traffic accidents occur frequently in China, due to lax safety standards and widespread disorderly driving.
Six people died after a car lost control and slammed into bikes and other vehicles on a bridge in central China's Hunan province in September.
That same month, a school bus ploughed into a crowd of people outside a middle school in eastern China, killing 11 parents and students.
And in July, police said a vehicle crashed into pedestrians in the central city of Changsha, killing eight people and injuring five.