Eight people have been confirmed dead with 17 others injured after a 21-year-old student went on a stabbing spree at a vocational college in eastern China before he was overpowered and disarmed.
Armed with a knife, the suspect, surnamed Xu stormed Wuxi Vocational College of Arts and Technology in eastern Jiangsu province where he staged a knife attack that left several casualties.
He was arrested at the scene of the crime and is reported to have confessed to the attack.
Motive of stabbing spree in China
According to local police, Xu had failed his examinations and could not graduate with his classmates.
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He was also disgruntled with his pay at an internship that he had secured, further adding to his frustrations.
Preliminary investigations indicate that he decided to vent his frustrations by attacking others and went on a stabbing spree that has left the nation reeling in shock.
Videos taken at the scene of the attack shows several people lying motionless on the street.
Others could be seen writhing in pain with volunteers rushing to help.
Discussions over mental health in China
This is the second incident in the same week that triggered deeper soul-searching and discussions online over mental health in China.
Earlier this week, 35 people were confirmed dead with 43 others injured after a driver ploughed through a crowd outside a sports stadium.
The Monday incident happened in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai with authorities arresting and prosecuting a 62-year-old man who they accuse of ramming his car through the crowd.
A striking constant in the two unrelated incidents is that the perpetrators in both cases vented their frustrations on innocent by-standers.
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Details remain scanty in the heavily censored media space in China with a keyword search on the Asian nation’s social media platform – Weibo not yielding any videos or images of the attacks.
At least six incidences where people who suffered personal losses unleashed lethal violence, stabbing several and killing others have been reported in China this year.