35 dead as a driver hits a crowd in a Chinese city

[November 12, 2024]  By HUIZHONG WU

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in China say 35 people were killed and another 43 injured when a driver rammed his car into people exercising at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai.

The 62-year-old driver was detained, police said earlier Monday. It was not immediately clear whether it was an attack or an accident. No motive was mentioned, and police said investigations continued.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

BANGKOK (AP) — A 62-year-old man was detained after he rammed a car into people exercising at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said late Monday, on the eve of the country’s premier aviation exhibition by the People’s Liberation Army, hosted annually in the city.

The incident, which occurred on Monday night, is facing heavy censorship as the Zhuhai Airshow opened Tuesday. So far, officials have not announced a death or injury toll. One of the four hospitals that took in people for treatment said it had more than 20 injured people, state media reported Monday.

It was not immediately clear whether it was an attack or an accident. No motive was mentioned, and police said investigations continued.

Police identified the man only by his family name of Fan, consistent with the practice by Chinese authorities. The police statement said the vehicle knocked down “a number of” of pedestrians Monday evening.

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.

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.”

This photo shows a sports center where a man rammed a car into people exercising in Zhuhai, China Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

By Tuesday morning, searches for the incident on Chinese social media were heavily censored on Chinese social media platforms. 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.

China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to target random people such as schoolchildren.

In October, a 50-year-old man was detained after he allegedly used a knife to attack children at a school in Beijing. Five people were injured. In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket.
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Associated Press reporters Elsie Chen and Didi Tang contributed from Washington, and researcher Yu Bing contributed from Beijing.

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