Four US university professors are in hospital after being stabbed by an unknown assailant in a public park in China.
Iowa Cornell College instructors were injured in a “serious incident” during a daytime visit to the park in northern Jilin province, a statement from the college said.
Iowa Rep. Adam Zabner said his brother, David, was one of four instructors injured in the incident, which he described as a stabbing.
China’s Foreign Ministry says none of the injuries are life-threatening.
Zabner said the group was visiting a local temple on Monday when they were attacked by a man with a knife.
He said his brother was stabbed in the arm in Beishan Park in Jilin city and was recovering in hospital.
“He has not yet been released this morning, but he is doing well,” he told CBS News.
Cornell College said the four instructors were teaching “as part of a partnership with a university in China.” The group was accompanied by a member of Beihua University when visiting the park on Monday.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the injured were immediately rushed to hospital where they received treatment.
Spokesman Lin Jian did not respond to questions about whether the attacker was in custody, adding that further investigation was needed.
“This was an isolated incident and the investigation continues. China is widely considered one of the safest countries in the world and China will continue to take relevant measures to ensure that foreigners are safe in the country.
“We believe this will not harm relations with other countries,” he said.
A US State Department spokesperson previously told the BBC it was aware of reports of a stabbing incident in Jilin but could not provide further information.
The images circulating appear to show at least three people bleeding and lying on the ground.
However, the incident appears to have been quickly censored on the Chinese Internet.
On Tuesday, searches for terms such as “Jilin foreigners” yielded no results, despite the search term trending on Weibo.
Instead, internet users resorted to discussions in adjacent threads, while some were also seen asking for more information about the incident.
Online commentator Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times, had previously posted on Weibo that China has been receiving an increasing number of foreign visitors and that Chinese people are “typically friendly” towards them. He described the incident as a “chance event.”
The post has since been removed.
There are also few reports of the incident in Chinese state media.
Zabner said his brother, a doctoral student at Tufts University, had visited China before and was on his second trip to the country with Cornell College.
Amid tense diplomatic relations, Beijing and Washington have sought to reestablish people-to-people exchanges in recent times.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled a plan to invite 50,000 young Americans to China over the next five years, while Chinese diplomats say a US State Department travel advisory has discouraged Americans from going to China.
