China hit-and-run incident: 35 killed, 43 injured after driver rams car into crowd in Zhuhai

At least 35 people were killed and another 43 injured after a 62-year-old driver rammed his car into people exercising at a sports center in southern China’s Zhuhai city on Monday, AP reported.

According to police officials, the driver was detained. It is not clear whether it was an attack or an accident.

The incident took place a day before Zhuhai Airshow, organised by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which opened on Tuesday.

According to the AP report, the driver has been identified by his family name Fan. A personnel at the emergency clinic of Zhuhai’s Shang Chong Hospital said they received some injured people who left after treatment.

Video circulating on social media 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, 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.”

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, AP reported.

Xiangzhou sports center closed

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.