Driver rams into crowd of students outside school in France

A driver "suffering from acute schizophrenia" ploughed into a group of Chinese students leaving a college in the suburb of Blagnac, near Toulouse. Photo / Google Maps

A driver "suffering from acute schizophrenia" ploughed into a group of Chinese students leaving a college in the suburb of Blagnac, near Toulouse, France this morning.

Three people were injured, two critically, in the smash at the exit of Saint-Exupery high school, in south-west France, before being taken to the nearby Purpan Hospital.

The driver, 28, who deliberately committed the attack, is known to police but was not on a security watch list. While being arrested he admitted to hearing voices telling him to hurt someone, the Daily Mail reports.

The three victims are Chinese students - a 22-year-old man and two 23-year-old women.

This college campus comprises of several postgraduate courses including journalism, computer science, real estate and business.

The unnamed driver has been arrested following the incident.

Local media report the man is known to suffer from a psychiatric disorder.

"The car mounted the pavement soon after 4pm and caused immense panic as it targeted students leaving the college," said a local police source.

"The man responsible was known to police but had no history of terrorism. He has severe psychological problems, and had been placed under supervision in the past.

"I was in class and I heard sirens," Paul, a communications student at the IGS campus told local media.

"We thought about an accident because when we got off the campus there were a lot of police cars on the ground. The school management did not explain what was going on."