Horror as man kills 35 people in China car ramming

A man reportedly unhappy with his divorce has allegedly killed at least 35 people who were exercising outside a stadium in China.

WARNING: Graphic content

At least thirty-five people have been killed and 43 wounded when a car ploughed into people exercising around a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, local police said on Tuesday.

The ramming was reported on Monday, though at the time police only said that people had been injured, while videos of the incident appeared to have been scrubbed from social media.

But on Tuesday, police said that a “serious and vicious attack” had occurred at Zhuhai Sports Centre, revealing the death toll to be 35.

The 43 people wounded are not currently in life-threatening conditions.

The city of Zhuhai is located close to Hong Kong and adjacent to the former Portuguese colony of Macau.

At least 35 dead in China hit and run. Picture: Twitter.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the 62-year-old driver, surnamed Fan, had been “triggered by (his) dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce”, the police said in a statement.

Fan drove “a small SUV through the gate and forced his way into the city’s sports centre, ramming people who were exercising on the internal roads of the sports centre”, the statement added.

He was “controlled on the spot by the police who rushed to the scene as he attempted to drive away”.

The police found Fan in his car cutting himself with a knife, before they stopped him and sent him to hospital.

Emergency vehicles arriving after a driver ploughed through a crowd of people exercising at a sports centre in Zhuhai, in south China's Guangdong province. (Photo by UGC / AFP).

He is currently in a coma after self-inflicted injuries to his neck and other parts of his body and unable to undergo interrogation, police added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged “all-out efforts” to treat the people injured and has “demanded punishing the perpetrator in accordance with the law”, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Graphic videos circulating on social media on Monday night showed the aftermath of the incident, though most had disappeared by Tuesday.

The videos included pictures of people splayed across a roadway next to the stadium. It was unclear if they were injured or had perished.

People were splayed motionless across the street. Picture: Twitter.

The deaths happened outside a sports stadium. (Photo by UGC / AFP).

China’s largest air show showcasing Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector is being held in the same city at the moment.

The country has seen a spate of violent public attacks in recent months. A man killed three people and wounded 15 in a knife attack at a supermarket in the Chinese megacity of Shanghai in October.

In September, a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed in the southern city of Shenzhen and died of his injuries, prompting outrage from Tokyo.

And in July, police said a vehicle crashed into pedestrians in the central city of Changsha, killing eight.

Originally published as Horror as man kills 35 people in China car ramming