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Police, British Transport Police officers and members of the emergency services outside Huntingdon Station in eastern England. Police said: ’‘We are currently responding to an incident on a train to Huntingdon where multiple people have been stabbed. Picture: Justin Tallis / AFP
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British police have arrested two people after multiple people were stabbed on a main-line train service in eastern England on Saturday evening local time.
The Saturday-night train made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon and the sedate Cambridgeshire town in south-central England was immediately flooded with scores of police cars and emergency vehicles. Police were seen rushing towards the train on social media posts.
It is unclear at this stage if the incident will be classed as a terror attack.
One eye witness described the scene on the train as “horrific” and “pure chaos” onboard. They told The Sun: “There was blood everywhere, it was a terrible scene, really violent. It was like something from a film.”
A spokesperson for British Transport Police said: “We are currently responding to an incident on a train to Huntingdon where multiple people have been stabbed.
“Officers are in attendance alongside @CambsCops and two people have been arrested.”
An attacker got off the train with the passengers at Huntingdon and was waving “quite a large knife” when police tasered him before making the arrest.
Police cars and ambulances outside Huntingdon Station. Picture: AFP
The local Conservative MP, Ben Obese-Jecty, told Sky News (UK) he believed the incident happened just north of Huntingdon and the train was stopped at Huntingdon station.
He said armed police responded to the incident just before 8pm on Saturday evening and they were “able to neutralise the threat”.
Police officers and emergency workers alongside an LNER train, with some searching the track. Picture: AFP
One eyewitness, Gavin, told Sky News said he saw an attacker, who was wearing a black hoodie, being arrested on the station platform.
Gavin said: “I was in coach G, a lot people coming through.. I heard them say they have a knife I’ve been stabbed, he was trying to get away from suspect, truly bloodied.
“This person ended up on the floor. We couldn’t progress further (down the train) because the person collapsed on the floor, they were taken away straight away in ambulance.”
He said he saw someone moving through his carriage saying: “They’ve got a knife, I’ve been stabbed.”
“They were making their way through the carriage to get away from the suspects. They were extremely bloodied,” Gavin said.
Gavin said passengers were ushered out into the station, adding: “There were multiple people who had been stabbed.”.
Passengers run from the train at Huntingdon on Saturday night. Picture: supplied
Passengers said they activated the emergency device to alert the driver and the train stopped at the nearest station.
Gavin said he believed that in the initial attack around four to six people were stabbed, but that an attacker then doubled back towards the front of the train and may have attacked more people.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later tweeted: “The appalling incident on a train near Huntingdon is deeply concerning. My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response. Anyone in the area should follow the advice of the police.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said “two suspects have been immediately arrested and taken into custody. I am receiving regular updates on the investigation. I urge people to avoid comment and speculation at this early stage.”
The Conservative opposition home secretary frontbencher Chris Philp has tweeted: “Horrific scenes in Huntingdon, in what seems to be a brutal mass attack by two perpetrators. My thoughts are with all those injured or affected and the emergency services responding. The police and government should provide an update on what happened and who has been arrested as soon as possible.”
Police officers and emergency workers alongside an LNER train, with some searching the track. Picture: AFP
Passengers on the train have reported that the train manager told them on the intercom that 10 people may have been injured.
A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “We were called at 7.39pm with reports that multiple people had been stabbed on a train.
“Armed officers attended, and the train was stopped at Huntingdon, where two men were arrested.
“Several people have been taken to the hospital.
“The incident remains ongoing and the (main road) A1307 has been closed as you approach the town centre.”
The train, run by the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) stopped at 7.39pm.
The company said in a statement: “We are experiencing major disruption across the LNER route.
“Emergency services are dealing with an incident at Huntingdon station; all lines are blocked. Our advice is ‘Do Not Travel’. Please defer your travel where you can.”
LNER has offered accommodation and transport to the thousands of train passengers stuck in place while the main line up east coast of the country is closed.
Other train companies that use the same line have advised passengers that Huntingdon station is closed and no trains will call until further notice.
The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow said in a post on X: “Hearing reports of horrendous scenes on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire”, adding that his “thoughts are with everyone affected”, AFP reported.
An LNER train at a platform at Huntingdon Station. Picture: AFP
Paramedics’ medical equipment inside a police cordon at Huntingdon Station. Picture: AFP
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 the Starmer government.
His Labour government has tried to rein in their use.
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 already get you up to four years in prison, and the government said knife murders had dropped by 18 per cent in the last year.
Two people were killed — one as a result of misdirected police gunfire – and others wounded in a stabbing spree at a synagogue in Manchester at the start of October in an attack which shook the local Jewish community and the country.
