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(CNN) - Fifty-one children and three teachers were injured in a kindergarten in southwest China when a man attacked them with a corrosive chemical, state media reported Tuesday.
According to the state news agency Xinhua, a 23-year-old suspect named Kong went to school in Kaiyuan City, Yunnan Province, Monday afternoon and sprayed caustic soda into a room full of students and teachers.
Two of those affected were seriously injured, although their injuries are not life-threatening, according to the report.
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The suspect was arrested about an hour after the attack. He allegedly sprayed the chemist as an act of revenge against society, Xinhua said, citing police.
Caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide, is used in the manufacture of a number of common products, such as soap, paper and various dyes.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, exposure to caustic soda can irritate or burn the eyes and skin, cause an allergic reaction or even cause temporary hair loss.
History of violence
Monday's incident is not the first school attack in China. In October 2018, a woman with a kitchen knife cut at least 14 children in a kindergarten in the central city of Chongqing.
Nine students were killed in a high school in Shaanxi Province in April 2018 by a 28-year-old man who was later sentenced to death.
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In 2017, 11 students were injured after a man climbed the wall of a kindergarten with a knife and began attacking them.
Ben Westcott of CNN contributed reporting.
