Medics mop up after car-ramming in Zhuhai; 35 dead

More than 300 medical staff members from five hospitals in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, continued to work feverishly to save people who were injured when a car plowed into a crowd at a sports center in the city's Xiangzhou district.

As of Tuesday night, 35 people had died and 43 were being treated for injuries in the incident, a statement released by the city government said. Zhuhai has now concentrated its best medical resources in response, it said.

The Guangdong provincial government sent more than 30 medical experts and the National Health Commission sent 11.

Guangdong's Health Commission dispatched 36 ambulances to the scene from nearby Zhongshan and Jiangmen, which allowed quick medical treatment of the injured, the statement said, adding that no lives are currently at risk.

Chen Yong, Party secretary of Zhuhai, and Huang Zhihao, the city's mayor, went to the scene to oversee the emergency work and establish a special task force to handle the aftermath, including the launch of an investigation and providing comfort the families of the victims.

At a Tuesday meeting about the incident, the Zhuhai government called the crash "extremely heinous in nature, with very serious consequences, and the lessons drawn from it are extremely profound", the statement said.

The incident took place at 7:48 pm on Monday. A 62-year-old man surnamed Fan drove a small SUV through a barrier at a sports center in Zhuhai, ramming people who were exercising on the road inside the venue, the city's public security bureau said in a statement on Tuesday.

A preliminary investigation found that Fan was triggered by dissatisfaction with the split of financial assets in his divorce, the police said, adding that Fan had been detained.