Beijing: A car crashed into a crowd at a public square in central China on Wednesday evening, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 40 others, an official Chinese newspaper said.

Police have arrested the suspected driver of a red four-wheel drive after it plowed into a large group of people at the square in the town of Mishui in Hunan province, Hengdong county, the Beijing Youth Daily said on its official microblog account.

People gather at the square after a car ploughed into a large crowd in Mishui, China. Credit:Screengrab/YouTube

Chinese state television CGTN reported that at least nine people were killed and 46 others injured.

The brief report in the Youth Daily, a publication of the ruling Communist Party's youth league, said police were investigating the crash. There was no mention of terrorism or any other motive.