Four instructors affiliated with Cornell College in Iowa were injured in a “serious incident” while at a park in China, the college announced Monday.
The instructors were in China teaching through a partnership program with a local university and were injured during a daytime visit to a public park, Jonathan Brand, the college’s president, said in a statement. The instructors were accompanied by a faculty member from the college’s partner institution in China at the time of the attack, Brand added. No students at the small liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, were in the program at the time.
A spokesperson for the US State Department told CBS News that the department was aware of “reports of a stabbing incident in Jilin” in northeast China, although -speaker did not provide further details.
Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa called the attack a stabbing, writing on social media: “Horrified that several Cornell College faculty members were brutally stabbed in China, my team has been in communication with Cornell College and will do everything in its power to bring these Iowans. home safely.
Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said her office is in contact with the U.S. Embassy in China to ensure victims of the attack receive quality care and are returned home safely.
The governor of Iowa. Kim Reynolds said she has been in contact with the state’s federal delegation as well as the State Department. “Please pray for their full recovery, safe return and for their families here at home,” Reynolds wrote on social media.