11 people killed in China after tractor driver goes on a rampage

A drunken Chinese tractor driver killed 11 people and injured dozens more after he went on a rampage behind the wheel of his tractor in northern China. Yuanshi county government in Hebei province issued a news release stating: 38-year-old Li Xianliang was drinking when he killed a customer on Sunday at the Hongyuan coal depot where he worked driving a shovel loader. Li then drove his loader down an adjacent road, smashing into cars, buses, motorcycles, trucks and roadside shops.

The release also stated that eight people were killed outright and 20 injured, while a Yuanshi county spokesman said three more people died in the hospital. Li Xianliang was on the road for at least an hour smashing into cars, buses, motorcycles, trucks and roadside shops. He was subdued by police and taken into custody when he eventually came to a stop in a field.

It’s believed that he could face the death penalty if convicted and won’t be the first this year, as China has recently had a spate of apparently unrelated rampage attacks this year, which have included knife-wielding assailants targeting kindergartens and elementary schools as well as a courthouse shooting and random slashing attacks at markets and on a train. Because of this it has prompted an increase in public security and calls for more attention to be paid to mental health problems which often go undiagnosed and untreated. The central government has limited coverage about the assaults which have left more than two dozen people dead and scores wounded for fears of copycat attacks.

Picture courtesy of peruisay

World News