Ali Condon
Police are investigating after a shocking sword attack resulted in an influencer's hand reportedly being sliced off - all while he was live-streaming.
A Chinese streamer had been broadcasting live to his followers from Xiamen, Fujian, suddenly a man sprung up behind them with a sword in-hand and started swinging.
In the clip from the livestream, which has since gone viral online, the streamer and his friend can be seen jumping to their feet to escape.
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Viewers have noticed that, as soon as the two men leap out of their seats, the attacker swings his sword at the streamer and it looks as though his hand is chopped clean off.
While the two men run for their lives, the stream keeps going, leaving 99 viewers who were tuned in wondering what on earth had just happened.
Later on in the stream, the two can be seen running frantically in the background, still trying to shake off the knife-wielding attacker.
Some viewers were sceptical that this video might have been a publicity stunt, but Xiamen police have since released a statement to confirm the that the attack was very much real.
A statement from Xiamen police confirmed that they had been called to the coffee shop of a college in Xiang-an District just before 9pm on Wednesday (23 May) after reports that someone had been cut.
They continued that the victims, named only as Shi and Ye, were stabbed from behind with a knife and wounded in their hands and back respectively.
Although the suspect fled the scene, they were arrested in the early hours of Thursday morning (24 May).
Police learned from their investigation that the suspect, named as Luo, had had an argument with Shi and Ye on an app called Douyin - a sister app to TikTok - which prompted Luo's attack.
For now, Shi and Ye are in hospital being treated for their non-life-threatening injuries.
Photos later surfaced online of the victim's hand lying on the ground after the horrific attack - as well as snaps of the streamer lying in a hospital bed with bandages over where his hand should be.
The disturbing images have prompted calls for justice for the two victims - meanwhile, police are still investigating the details of the attack.
This is far from the first time that a streamer has come close to death during a live broadcast.
Just earlier this week, a streamer who was pranking members of the public for views wound up with a gun in pointed in his face.
After pretending to pour gas on people's cars - though the only liquid inside the gas can is water - the streamer had to call of his prank early when one driver got really serious really fast.
Insisting it was just a prank and there was only water inside, the streamer is then told: "It better be water, partner. Or you’re one dead son of a b*tch. You stay out of this. I don’t want to do that. You almost died, you stupid son of a b*tch."
Yikes.