According to the US university, four lecturers were injured in a “serious incident” in China

Four lecturers from Cornell College in Iowa were injured in a “serious incident” in a park in China, the college said on Monday.

The instructors were teaching as part of a partnership program with a local university in China and were injured during a day trip to a public park, Jonathan Brand, the college’s president, said in a statement. The instructors were accompanied by a faculty member from the college’s partner institution in China at the time of the attack, Brand added. No students from the small liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, were participating in the program at the time.

A US State Department spokesman told CBS News that the department was aware of “reports of a knife attack in Jilin” in northeast China. The spokesman did not provide further details.

Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa called the attack a stabbing and wrote on social media: “I am appalled that several Cornell College faculty members were brutally stabbed in China. My team is in contact with Cornell College and will do everything in our power to bring these Iowans home safely.”

Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said her office was in contact with the U.S. Embassy in China to ensure that victims of the attack received appropriate care and were brought home safely.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said she was in contact with the state’s federal delegation as well as the State Department. “Please pray for their full recovery, their safe return, and for their families here at home,” Reynolds wrote on social media.