HONG KONG — Thirty-five people were killed and another 43 were 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 detained at the scene after he drove his small off-road vehicle into people exercising at Zhuhai Sports Center late Monday, local police
said in a statement
, calling the incident “serious and vicious.”
Police identified the man by his last name, Fan. He was in a coma after harming himself with a knife in his car, police said, adding that he was still being treated and couldn’t be questioned.
Police said that Fan was dissatisfied with the division of property after his divorce, according to an initial investigation.
Fan is now under criminal detention.
The 43 people injured in the incident are now in non life-threatening situation, police said.
In a relatively rare move, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for Fan to be “severely punished in accordance with the law,”
state media Xinhua News reported
.
A central government working group has been dispatched to the site to guide and oversee the response efforts, according to Xinhua.
The incident occurred on the eve of the Zhuhai airshow, the country’s largest aerospace trade expo, where the Chinese military displayed an upgraded Z-20 helicopter on Tuesday.
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