Police say a 62-year-old suspect drove his car into a crowd in southern Zhuhai, also injuring 43 people.

At least 35 people were killed and 43 injured after a car plowed into a crowd outside a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said.

The hit-and-run happened at 19:48 (11:48 GMT) on Monday when a man drove a small all-terrain vehicle into a large group of people exercising outside the sports center. It was reported to the police only on Tuesday.

Zhuhai police said the suspect, a 62-year-old man surnamed Fan, was being treated at a hospital after being stabbed in the car.

Police called it a “serious and vicious attack” but said the 43 people injured were not in a life-threatening condition.

A video of the scene after the attack, verified by the Reuters news agency, showed at least 20 people lying on the ground. Cries of “terrorism” were heard as ambulances arrived to take the injured to hospital.

Fan was detained by police at the scene after he tried to run away, police said, adding that he self-harmed using a knife, causing serious neck injuries.

Police said an initial investigation indicated the suspect was motivated by “dissatisfaction with the division of marital property in the divorce.”

The suspect is currently in a coma after self-inflicting his neck and other body parts and could not be questioned, police added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out effort to treat the injured and called for severe punishment for the perpetrator. The central government has sent a team to provide guidance on how to handle the case, according to state television network CCTV.

Violent crime is rare in China due to tight security and strict gun laws. However, an increase in reports of knife attacks in major cities has drawn public attention to safety in public spaces.

In October, a knife attack in the capital Beijing left five people injured outside one of the city’s top primary schools. A month earlier, a Japanese student was fatally stabbed outside his school in the city of Shenzhen.

A Chinese man stabbed four US university instructors and a Chinese national who tried to intervene in a public park in the northeastern city of Jilin in June.

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