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Hong Kong (CNN) - Eight children died Monday in a school attack in the eastern Chinese province of Hubei. It was his first day of class.
The attack took place at Chaoyangpo Elementary School, in Enshi, Hubei City. According to a statement from the local government, a 40-year-old man named Yu attacked the students at school at 8:00 a.m. local time, when students were supposed to arrive to class.
The suspect is in police custody.
Eight children died and two others were injured. No details were given about the students' injuries or their ages. In China, primary school children range from 6 years to 13 years.
"The local party committee and the government are organizing all the rescue and recovery work," said the Enshi city government statement.
A separate statement from the Enshi city police was originally posted on the Chinese social media site Weibo, but then deleted without explanation. The hashtag “school criminal case in Hubei” had won 120 million visits in Weibo until Tuesday morning.
Attacks on school children in China have occurred before. In October, a woman with a kitchen knife cut about 14 children in a kindergarten in Chongqing.
In April 2018, nine students died and others were injured after a suspect began attacking students in Shaanxi Province.
September 2 marked the beginning of a new school semester in China after summer vacations.
According to the state tabloid Global Times, the local government provides psychological counseling services to students who witnessed or were injured in Monday's attack.