A Chinese vlogger who witnessed the evacuation at the mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday has recounted the frightening moments of the incident.
The death toll of the shooting, targeting the Jewish community, rose to 16, with 14 people killed at the scene and two more succumbing to their injuries in the hospital.
Another 40 people have been injured during the incident, according to Australian police on Monday.
According to the vlogger's account of the incident, he initially thought the sounds of gunfire were fireworks, but when he saw people starting to run, he realized it was a shooting.
"The shooting happened around 18:40 in the afternoon. At first, there were a few gunshots. I thought they were fireworks. After a while, everyone started running in the other direction, away from the sound of the gunshots. So I thought to myself, oh no, there was a shooting, I needed to run. So I ran in the opposite direction of the gunshots. There were many people running beside me as well. Some people had pets and were running while holding onto their dogs. Some were running while calling their family members or friends, asking where they were. Everyone was in a state of panic," said the young man.
"As I was running, I was really scared. My legs went weak. I had never experienced anything like this before. I had only seen things like this in the news. But yesterday, when I was there, the shooting was less than 200 meters away from me. At that moment, I thought, oh my god, it was a life-or-death situation," he said.
Police said the alleged shooter was among the dead, while a second suspect was injured.
New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon declared the attack to be "a terrorist incident," and said a thorough investigation is underway.
Following the incident, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Committee.
At a press conference later, he called the attack "an act of evil antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation."
Witness recounts horrifying moments of Bondi beach shooting
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang called for enhanced bilateral cooperation and friendship with Singapore when he met with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Monday.
Ding, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said that the long-term and stable development of China-Singapore relations has benefited from the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, who have upheld the correct political direction.
The two sides should continue to enhance mutual trust, respect each other's core interests, and ensure the steady and sustained progress of their friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation, he said.
Gan said that Singapore highly values its relations with China, firmly upholds the one-China principle, opposes the secessionist forces in Taiwan, and is willing to maintain close exchanges with China at all levels to promote greater development of bilateral relations.
Ding and Gan co-chaired four China-Singapore mechanism meetings on bilateral cooperation, namely, the 21st meeting of the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, the 26th meeting of the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Joint Steering Council, the 17th meeting of the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Joint Steering Council, and the ninth meeting of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Joint Steering Council.
They comprehensively reviewed and summarized the progress of practical cooperation between the two countries, clarifying the direction and priorities for cooperation in the next stage.
Both sides agreed to deepen the alignment of development plans, promote the upgrading of major projects, cultivate and strengthen new quality productive forces, jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system, and better promote the development of both countries and the prosperity and stability of the region.
Following the meetings, Ding and Gan witnessed together the exhibition of achievements in China-Singapore cooperation, and attended the launching ceremony of two freight trains under the China-Singapore Multi-modal Demonstration Project. They also visited the comprehensive exhibition hall of China-Singapore interconnectivity projects and Chongqing digital city operation and governance center.
At the invitation of Ding, Gan is on a visit to China from December 15 to 16.
Chinese vice premier calls for enhanced cooperation with Singapore
