BEIJING – Four American educators from a small Iowa university were reportedly stabbed in a public park in north-east China’s Jilin province over the weekend, according to US media and US government officials.
The educators from Cornell College were visiting a partner university in China when the attack occurred, said CNN.
“We are working through proper channels and requesting to speak with the US embassy on appropriate matters to ensure that the victims first receive quality care for their injuries and then get out of China in a medically feasible manner,” Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa wrote on X.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds wrote on X that she was in touch with the US State Department on the “horrifying” attack.
Cornell College spokeswoman Jen Visser told CNN the stabbing incident happened in Jilin City and the partner China school was Beihua University.
The US State Department was aware of reports of a stabbing incident in China and was monitoring the situation, said Visser.
Chinese police are, for now, looking at the stabbing as a random incident, but that investigations are ongoing, China’s Foreign Ministry said on June 11.
ALSO READ: London police arrest sword-wielding man after reports of stabbing