35 dead after car ploughs into crowd in China

A car lost control and veered into a crowd gathered outside a sports centre in China’s southern city of Zhuhai, leaving at least 35 people dead and around 43 others injured, news agency Reuters reported.

The 62-year-old driver of the car was arrested soon after the incident which took place on Monday evening.

A verified video of the hit-and-run incident showed several people lying on the road. As ambulances arrived to transport the injured to the hospital, cries of ‘terrorist’ could be heard in the background. In one of the videos, a woman can be heard saying “My foot is broken”.

Police arrested the accused, identified by the surname Fan, for deliberately driving a small car into a group of pedestrians outside a sports centre at 7.48 pm local time (11.48 am GMT) before fleeing the scene.

The police statement said the vehicle knocked down “a number of” pedestrians Monday evening. Authorities have yet to disclose a motive for the incident.

The Xiangzhou City District Sports Center regularly attracts hundreds of residents who use its facilities for activities such as running on the track, playing soccer, and social dancing.

The accident took place a day before a major airshow, organised by People’s Liberation Army (PLA), opened in Zhuhai.

Zhuhai is hosting China’s biggest annual air show this week, where a new stealth jet fighter will be on display for the first time.