A passenger who witnessed a mass stabbing on board a high-speed train heading for London told Sky News he heard someone yelling: “They’ve got a knife. I’ve been stabbed.”
The witness, who gave his name as Gavin, said there were “extremely bloodied” people and police shouting “get down, get down!” as passengers scrambled to leave the train.
Ten people were taken to hospital – nine with life-threatening injuries – after the incident on the 6.25pm LNER train from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday.
Two people have been arrested and counter-terrorism police have been called in to join the investigation.
Sky News correspondent Gurpreet Narwan at the scene said some of the first-hand accounts were “quite terrifying”.
“We are hearing about people trampling over each other. We are hearing about passengers hiding in the toilets,” she said.
Gavin said: “The armed police were pointing to the suspect as we came off the train.
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“Police were shouting ‘get down, get down’!
“He (a suspect) was waving quite a large knife. They detained him. I think it was a Taser that got him down in the end.”
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Emergency stop
Passengers had pulled the emergency cord, he said, which caused the train to make an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, where armed police boarded.
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Gavin added he saw someone moving through his carriage, and 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,” he added.
He says by the time the train stopped, “they were basically on the floor”.
“That person ended up collapsing on the floor. They were taken to an ambulance pretty much straight away,” he said.
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Chief Superintendent Chris Casey of British Transport Police said: “This is a shocking incident and first and foremost my thoughts are with those who have been injured this evening and their families.
“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.
“At this early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.
“Our response is ongoing at the station and will be for some time.”
