JOHANNESBURG - Three Chinese tourists were injured after being rubbed by armed gangsters in a South African hotel, the Chinese Consulate-General in Johannesburg confirmed on Sunday.

The family of three from south China's Guangxi were in a tour group that arrived at Johannesburg Airport Holiday Inn Hotel around 10 pm on Saturday to take the flight home on Sunday.

The group was checking in when four gun-wielding criminals stormed into the hotel and tried to rob them.

While trying to fight back, the mother was shot on the head by the gangsters' sand-blasting guns, the father's chest and legs were scratched by the sand bullets, and the daughter sustained bruise on the head.

The criminals escaped with their suitcases and handbags, and the family were send to a local hospital for treatment. All three family members are out of danger, the consulate-general told Xinhua.