Nine people have been hospitalised with life-threatening injuries after a mass stabbing on a train travelling from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday evening. A 10th person suffered non life-threatening injuries, and two men were arrested in what prime minister Keir Starmer called an “appalling incident”.
A man with a large knife is believed to have been shot with a taser by police after the attack on the high speed train after it left Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire in eastern England. British Transport Police (BTP) said two people have been arrested over the stabbings, which happened on the 6.25pm train service. Counter-terrorism police are also involved in the investigation.
Witnesses have spoken of seeing a man with a large knife and passengers hiding in the toilets to escape the rampage, The Times reported. One told the paper there was “blood everywhere” and people were getting “stamped” on by others as they tried to flee.
Witnesses at the scene of the stabbing have described horrifying details. Olly Foster told the BBC he initially heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”, and believed it might have been a prank related to Halloween. Mr Foster said people quickly started pushing through the carriage, and he noticed his hand was “covered in blood” as there was “blood all over the chair” he had leaned on.
An older man “blocked” the attacker from stabbing a younger girl, leaving him with injuries to his head and neck, Mr Foster said, adding that other passengers used their clothing to try and stem the bleeding.
He said the incident “felt like forever”.
BTP said counterterrorism police were supporting its investigation while it works to establish the full circumstances and motivation for the incident.
“We’re conducting urgent enquiries to establish what has happened, and it could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further,” BTP chief superintendent Chris Casey said. “At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.”
Cambridgeshire police said they were called at 8.20pm after reports that multiple people had been stabbed on the 6.25pm service from Doncaster in northern England to London King’s Cross.
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The train stopped at Huntingdon, with armed officers seen entering the train in videos on social media.
“Armed officers attended and the train was stopped at Huntingdon, where two men were arrested,” the police said.
The East of England Ambulance Service said it mobilised a large-scale response to Huntingdon Railway Station, which included numerous ambulances and critical care teams, including three air ambulances.
Mr Starmer posted on X that the incident was “deeply concerning”. “My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response,” he said.
London North Eastern Railway, which operates East Coast Mainline services in the UK, said disruption to services in the area was expected to last until Monday, with passengers advised to defer travel where possible.
Knife crime in England and Wales has been steadily rising since 2011, according to official government data. While Britain has some of the strictest gun controls in the world, rampant knife crime has been branded a “national crisis” by Mr Starmer. His government has tried to rein in the use of knives. Nearly 60,000 blades have been either “seized or surrendered” in England and Wales as part of government efforts to halve knife crime within a decade, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.
Carrying a knife in public can be punishable by up to four years in prison. The government said knife murders had dropped by 18 per cent in the last year. – Guardian/Reuters
