Beijing (CNN) A least nine people were killed and more than 40 wounded after a driver of a SUV intentionally crashed into crowds at a busy public square in central China late Wednesday evening, local government officials said.

Videos and photos circulated on social media purportedly show large crowds of up to several hundred people running frantically from the square in different directions, amid bodies laying scattered on the ground.

The incident, which occurred in the city of Hengyang, in Hunan Province, left at least 46 people wounded, three of them severely, officials confirmed.

"There was a vicious incident that a person drove deliberately into crowds at Mijiang Square," the the local government said in a press statement.

The motive for the crash, which occurred about 7:35 p.m. (7:35 a.m. ET), has yet to be determined. The driver, identified only by a surname, Yang, was taken into custody at the scene of the incident.

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