Four US university lecturers stabbed to death in public park in China

Four US university lecturers are in hospital after being stabbed by an unknown assailant in a public park in China.

The Iowa Cornell College lecturers were injured in a “serious incident” during a day visit to the park in the northern province of Jilin, the college said in a statement.

Iowa Rep. Adam Zabner said his brother David was one of four instructors injured in the incident, which he described as a stabbing.

He said the group was visiting a local temple on Monday when they were attacked by a man with a knife.

Mr Zabner said his brother was stabbed in the arm in Beishan Park in Jilin city and is currently recovering in hospital.

“He hasn’t been released this morning, but he’s doing well,” he told CBS News.

A US State Department spokesman told the BBC that they were aware of reports of a stabbing incident in Jilin, but could not provide further information.

Cornell College said the four lecturers were teaching “as part of a partnership with a university in China.” The group was accompanied by a member of Beihua University during their visit to the park on Monday.

A response from Chinese authorities to the incident is still pending, but images of the aftermath were quickly shared on social media.

The pictures circulating apparently show at least three people lying on the ground bleeding.

However, the incident appears to have been quickly censored on the Chinese Internet.

On Tuesday, searches for terms such as “foreigner Jilin” yielded no results, even though the search term was trending on Weibo.

Instead, Internet users resorted to discussions on related topics and some also asked for more information about the incident.

There are also few reports about the incident in Chinese state media.

Mr. Zabner said his brother, a doctoral student at Tufts University, had visited China before and was now in the country for the second time with Cornell College.

Despite strained diplomatic relations, Beijing and Washington have recently tried to restore people-to-people exchanges.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled a plan to invite 50,000 young Americans to China over the next five years, but Chinese diplomats say a travel warning from the U.S. State Department is deterring Americans from traveling to China.