At least 35 people were killed and 43 others sustained injuries after a man rammed his car into people at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai which is hosting the country’s biggest annual air show this week.
Police detained a 62-year-old man suspected of hitting the joggers and speeding off on Monday evening, according to the state media.
The authorities said the vehicle knocked down “a number of pedestrians” without clarifying whether the incident was a premeditated attack or an accident.
No motive was mentioned, and police said investigations continued.
Authorities said emergency services were rushed to the scene to rescue the victims as cries of a “terrorist” attack reverberated in the area.
The police said they had taken a man surnamed Fan into custody for allegedly driving a small car into pedestrians outside the sports centre before driving away.
Chinese president Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged all-out efforts to treat those injured in the ramming incident. “All localities and relevant departments should make effort to ensure the safety of people’s lives and social stability,” he said according to the state media.
Videos from the incident showed a firefighter performing CPR on a person, as people were told to leave the scene. Other videos shared on X by blogger and dissident Li Ying, who is better known as Teacher Li, showed injured scattered on the road in a pool of blood.
In one, a woman says “my foot is broken.”
Most of the injured people were wearing the same clothes and were reportedly part of a group of middle-aged and elderly people exercising on the track.
By Tuesday morning, searches for the incident on Chinese social media were heavily censored and searches on Weibo for the sports centre only turned up a few posts.
Articles about the incident from Monday night were reportedly taken down.
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.
Zhuhai is hosting China’s biggest annual air show this week where a new stealth jet fighter, the J-35A, will be on display for the first time.
The aircraft adds to the airpower of the world’s fastest growing military, and is part of an effort by Beijing to match America’s military capabilities as it modernises its armed forces.
Violent crime is rare in China due to tight security and strict gun laws. However, a rise in reports of knife attacks in large cities has drawn public attention to safety in public spaces.
In October, a knife attack in Beijing left five people wounded outside one of the city’s top primary schools. A month earlier, a Japanese student was fatally stabbed outside his school in Shenzhen.