More than 50 children in hospital after man breaks into nursery and sprays corrosive chemical

Police say attacker wanted 'revenge on society'

The attack was the latest in a string of similar incidents (Yunnan.cn)

A man injured 51 children when he broke into a nursery school and sprayed them with a corrosive chemical, according to Chinese media reports.

Three teachers were also hurt in Monday’s incident in Kaiyuan, in Yunnan province, the Xinhua news agency quoted local authorities as saying.

Two people were seriously hurt by the attack with caustic soda – also known as lye or sodium hydroxide – but their injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

The chemical is used in the paper industry as a bleaching agent.

Xinhua reported police as saying that a 23-year-old man had been arrested about an hour after the mass assault.

He is accused of carrying out the attack as a “revenge on society”, the news agency reported, without giving further detail.

Schoolchildren have been targeted in a string of stabbings and other violent incidents in China in recent years.

In January, 20 children were taken to hospital after an apparent knife attack, and in 2017 a man stabbed 12 with a vegetable knife.

In the latter case, police also said he wanted revenge for the way his life had turned out.

Similarly opaque reasons were given following a fatal stabbing in June 2018, but after a woman injured 14 children in October that year police did not make public her motive.