Several injured after car plows into crowd in China

A car drove into a crowd outside a stadium in the Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday evening, injuring several people, police said.

The 62-year-old male driver, surnamed Fan, has been arrested.

Local reports estimate that at least 20 people, many of whom were struck while exercising at the Zhuhai Sports Center, were injured and sent to hospital.

The incident occurred despite increased security in the city, which also hosts a major civil and military air show.

Most videos of the incident posted by eyewitnesses have since been removed from Chinese social media, but some footage still circulating online shows many people lying on the ground being tended to by paramedics and bystanders.

Some victims appear to be unconscious.

An eyewitness, Mr Chen, told Chinese news magazine Caixin that at least six groups of people had gathered at the stadium for their regular walks when the incident occurred.

The groups use a special walking path that follows the perimeter of the stadium.

Mr Chen said his group had just completed the third lap around the stadium when a car suddenly rushed towards them at high speed, “knocking down many people”.

“He drove in a loop and people were injured in all parts of the track – east, south, west and north,” another eyewitness told Caixin.

The newspaper reported that among the injured were many elderly people, as well as teenagers and children.

It is unclear whether the incident was related to the high-profile Zhuhai Airshow, which started on Tuesday at a location just 40 km away from the stadium. China is displaying its latest fighter jets and attack drones at the show, and top Russian official Sergei Shoigu is expected to attend.

Several entrances and exits to the sports center will be closed during the air show to facilitate ‘control’, the center’s management said on Tuesday.

China has suffered a wave of violent attacks on civilians in recent months.

In September, a man moved on a stabbing in a supermarket in Shanghaiwhich killed three people and injured several others.

In that same month, a 10-year-old Japanese student died a day after he was stabbed near his school in southern China.