A student at an IT college in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, ran amok on Tuesday, stabbing six of his classmates, police said Wednesday.

One of the victims suffered a deep gash to the neck, which required intensive care treatment, but he is said to be in a stable condition.

The 21-year-old attacker, surnamed Chen, was later arrested and is now in custody. He is believed to be suffering from a mental illness, a spokeswoman for the Zhuhai public security bureau told China Daily yesterday.

She refused to give any further information, however, as the case is still under investigation.

According to a report by the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, the incident happened at about 10:40 am at the start of a new class.

Witnesses said Chen pulled out a 15-cm-long fruit knife and "casually" stabbed the two people sitting next to him and in front of him.

"I saw blood gushing from one boy's throat and another had been stabbed in the right side of his neck," the newspaper quoted one witness, who asked not to be named, as saying.

Chen then attacked four other classmates, as they and their teacher attempted to escape the room, the witness said.

After the attack, Chen remained in the classroom.

A teacher locked the door from the outside and called police, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

Police arrived soon after and arrested him.

The victims were taken to a nearby hospital. Three of them had been stabbed in the neck while the others had suffered wounds to their arms and wrists, a source from the hospital said.

A spokeswoman for the school, surnamed Cui, said the school authorities will issue a formal statement once the police have concluded their investigation.

Students and teachers were receiving counseling to help them deal with the incident, she told China Daily.

According to the Guangzhou Daily, Chen, who lives in Zhuhai, attacked a classmate while he was at university in Wuhan, in Central China's Hubei Province. He was later expelled.

(China Daily September 13, 2007)