By Summary
- Ramming attack in China’s Zhuhai kills 35, injures 43
- President Xi calls for all-out efforts to treat the injured
- Zhuhai is hosting China’s biggest annual air show this week
- Death toll and details not published for a day; images censored
ZHUHAI, China, Nov 12 (AfrikTimes) – A driver rammed his car into a crowd at a sports center in Zhuhai, southern China, killing 35 people and critically injuring 43 others in one of the deadliest attacks in contemporary Chinese history.
Chinese authorities took almost 24 hours to officially disclose the incident, which took place on Monday night in Zhuhai, a city of about 2.5 million people in southern China near Macau. Images and videos showing dozens of people knocked to the ground and a car fleeing from the scene, which circulated on China’s major social media platforms on Monday night, were swiftly censored. Angry comments about the official delay in reporting the incident were also removed, and the Weibo messaging site censored a hashtag that mentioned the death toll.
Emergency personnel work near the site of a suspected hit-and-run attack, which left several wounded, outside a sports center, in Zhuhai, China, November 11, 2024, in this still image taken from a social media video. Social Media/via REUTERS.
Police said the 62-year-old driver, identified by the surname Fan, had been captured and was hospitalized for wounds believed to have been self-inflicted with a knife to the neck and other parts of his body. Fan had been upset about the split of assets in his divorce settlement, police added.
Candles and flowers were placed at the site of the tragedy on Tuesday evening. Around 30 people gathered around one of the gates of the sports center, with delivery drivers on bikes stopping to add to around 20 bouquets laid in a row. Hundreds of rescue personnel from Zhuhai city and Guangdong province were deployed to provide emergency treatment, and more than 300 healthcare workers from five hospitals worked around the clock to save lives, state media Beijing Daily reported.
Police in Zhuhai after the incident.
On Weibo, one user wrote: “Even in today’s highly connected world, it took over 24 hours to learn about this incident.” Others expressed shock and concern. “I don’t know what to say, but I hope this kind of sickness does not spread,” wrote one. Another user remarked, “The death toll makes every pore on my body stand on end.”
Candles and floral tributes are laid outside a sports center where a deadly hit-and-run attack took place, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang.
There was no indication that the attack was related to the airshow. But it was the second such incident to occur during the Zhuhai airshow: in 2008, at least four people were killed and 20 injured when a man drove a truck into a crowded schoolyard during the airshow. Police said that attacker had been seeking revenge over a traffic dispute.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, as reported by Chinese state television CCTV, ordered an all-out effort to treat the injured and called for severe punishment for the attacker. The central government has dispatched a team to provide guidance on handling of the case, CCTV added.
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. The deadliest attack in recent years in China took place in Urumqi, in China’s western Xinjiang region, in 2014, in which suicide bombers killed 39 people and four of the five attackers also died.
Wounded people lie on the ground after a suspected hit-and-run attack outside a sports center, in Zhuhai, China, November 11, 2024, in this still image taken from a social media video.
