Eight people dead after student carries out stabbing spree at Chinese college 'after failing exam'

Another 17 people were understood to have been injured during the stabbing at the college in Yixing City in China’s Jiangsu province.

The man was arrested by Police at 6.00pm local time on Saturday.

Authorities said the suspect is a former student at the college, and has been named locally by his surname, Xu.

Xu reportedly confessed to the killings “without hesitation”. It is believed that he carried out the attack following Xu’s dissatisfaction with an internship and failing an exam.

The Yixing Public Security Bureau said in a statement: "According to preliminary investigations, the suspect... attacked others after failing an exam and not receiving his graduation certificate, as well as being dissatisfied with his internship compensation.”

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Flowers were left at the scene but were removed by authorities.

One man who came to lay a bouquet of chrysanthemums near the school gates said: "They were just 18, 19-year-old kids. It's such a pity and so sad."

He added: "We really have to give young people better psychological guidance."

The stabbings came after 35 people were killed in a car attack in southern China on Monday in what is believed to be the deadliest act of public violence in the country in decades.

Authorities charged a 62-year-old man this weekend in the city of Zhuhai in relation to the incident.

He is said to have rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports arena, killing 35 people and further injuring 43.

Police say the driver was unhappy with a divorce settlement.