Two surrender after stabbing tourists

XI'AN -- Two men on Friday turned themselves in to police for stabbing two tourists on Tuesday at a scenic spot in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, police said.

Liu Weijun, 28, and Wang Qi, 20, were detained for intentional assault, said a police officer with the public security bureau of Huayin City.

The two allegedly stabbed Dong Liwen and his wife Wang Jiao, both from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at Mount Hua in Huayin at around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the police officer said.

Dong was stabbed nine times and Wang was stabbed twice, he said.

The suspects, both local villagers who were purchasing tickets from tourists at discounted prices and returning them to redeem the full ticket price at the ticket office, quarreled with Dong while waiting in line at the ticket office, and their quarrel turned violent.

The two ran away when they saw uniformed staff members approaching them, and the victims received treatment at a local hospital, according to the police officer.

Large crowds of people, like Dong and Wang, demanded to have their tickets refunded as it was too crowded for tourists to enjoy their trips to the mountain.

"We were assaulted and stabbed by the security guards of the scenic spot while we were asking for the ticket refund," said Dong on his Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service.

"I remember one of the security guards wielded a knife toward me. We expect tourists who were on the spot to upload photos online and figure out the assailants," said Dong on the Sina Weibo.

In an investigation report, the management committee of Mount Hua said that, no staff, including the security guards, of the scenic spot had participated in the attack incident.

All the staff were on their own posts and maintaining order, and no one knew the details of the incident, said the report.

Further investigation is under way.

The case sparked public worries online over the safety issue at crowded and chaotic scenic spots, as China is in the midst of an eight-day national holiday that started on September 30.