At least 19 people have been injured in a mass stabbing after a knifeman attacked a group of schoolchildren waiting at a bus stop in Kawasaki City just south of Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday morning.
Emergency services rushed to the scene around 7.45am today where they found 13 wounded primary school pupils and at least six adults, News.com.au reports.
Watch this video to see what’s happening on the ground:
Conflicting reports have emerged but Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reports three individuals – thought to be six-year-old girls – were rushed to hospital with critical injuries.
The majority of the victims are believed to be females aged between six and seven-years-old.
Local Japanese media report three of the victims showed no vital signs by the time paramedics reached them, The British Telegraph said.
Eyewitnesses of the apparently random incident described a man stabbing the girls with knives in both hands at the busy transit stop.
The New York Times reports the suspect screamed “I will kill you!” before attacking the children.
The suspect has been detained by authorities but is unconscious following a serious injury to his shoulder.
Police recovered two knives from the scene which has since been sealed and roads around the site have been blocked off.
While street crime is rare in Japan, in 2016 a man stabbed 19 people to death at a disability centre south of Tokyo in what he called “a mission to rid the world of people with mental illness”.
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