A knife-wielding attacker wounded 37 pupils and two adults at a primary school in southern China yesterday, officials said, with local media identifying a security guard as the perpetrator.
All the victims, including teaching staff, were taken to hospital however, were not in a life-threatening condition, the authorities in Cangwu county, Guangxi region, said.
The incident at the Wangfu Central Primary School happened at 8.30am when children would normally arrive for class.
The attacker, reportedly aged around 50, has been brought "under control", the government said. "Thirty-seven pupils suffered mild injuries and two adults suffered more severe injuries. All were taken to a hospital for treatment, and none of their lives are in danger," it said.
Schools in the region had reopened only the previous month after being closed for months due to the coronavirus outbreak.
A number of schools in China have been attacked in recent years, forcing the authorities to step up security amid calls for more research into the causes of such acts.
In November, a man climbed a kindergarten wall in south-west Yun province and sprayed people with a corrosive liquid, wounding 51, mostly pupils.
Last September, eight schoolchildren died and two were hurt in a "school-related criminal case" in central Hubei province, and a 40-year-old man was arrested.
A knife-wielding man killed two people and wounded two others at a primary school in central Hu province in April the previous year.
In April 2018, a man killed nine middle-school students as they were returning home, in one of the deadliest knife attacks seen in China in recent years.
A home-made explosive killed eight people and injured dozens outside a kindergarten in Jiangsu province in June 2017.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE