Huntingdon stabbing latest: Two arrested over London-bound train attack as 9 suffer life-threatening injuries

Here’s everything we know so far about a stabbing on a train in Cambridgeshire that left nine people with life-threatening injuries.

• Emergency services were called to the attack on the 18.25 Doncaster-London train at around 19.39 on Saturday.

• Ten people are in hospital; nine are believed to have life-threatening injuries.

• Two people were arrested following the incident.

• While police are trying to understand the circumstances behind the attack, counter-terrorism police are also working on the investigation.

Occupants in a confined space are vulnerable to marauding attackers. Currently the only pre-boarding check for passengers is at London St Pancras International Airport, with all Eurostar passengers and their luggage checked before departing for Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

For trains within the UK, British Transport Police patrol trains and stations, but the force has fewer than 3,000 officers on a network that handles five million journeys a day.

Railway companies will consider increasing the number of security personnel on trains. There are likely to be calls for airport-style security checks before boarding trains. However, considering the large number of passengers and the restrictions at the stations, this does not seem practical.

Olly Foster told the BBC that he initially heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a man stabbing literally everyone” and believed it might be a Halloween-related prank.

Mr Foster said people quickly began pushing the car and he noticed his hand was “covered in blood” as there was “blood all over the chair” he was leaning against.

Mr Foster said an elderly man “stopped” an attacker from stabbing a young girl, causing her to suffer head and neck injuries, adding that other passengers used their clothing to stop the bleeding. He said the incident “will last forever.”

Following a mass stabbing, officers wearing forensic suits and a police dog were seen on the platform next to a stopped Doncaster-London train.

Two people were arrested after witnesses said they saw a man with a large knife and several people injured.

Armed police attended Huntingdon station after Cambridgeshire Constabulary was called at 7.39pm on Saturday and more than 30 officers were sent to the scene.

Police said several people were hospitalized following the attack.

British Transport Police said the train in question was a 18:25 service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.

The train involved in last night’s incident was an LNER train departing from Doncaster in South Yorkshire to London King’s Cross at 18.25. He left on time and called at Retford, Newark, Grantham and Peterborough.

The service departed Peterborough at 19.30. Another search was expected to be made in Stevenage 28 minutes later and to arrive in the capital at 20.23.

The train was planned to run 195 miles per hour through Huntingdon on an express route with no platform access.

While the attack was taking place, the LNER train driver and the rest of the crew, working with signalmen, managed to steer the train onto the slow line and bring it to a stop at the first station, where armed police were waiting, 14 minutes after leaving Peterborough.

This was an incredibly fast and professional response. The outcome would have been much worse if the train had either stopped close to the station, where access and escape would have been difficult, or continued towards Stevenage.

In an update to travellers, LNER said a “Do Not Travel notice” had been issued due to a “serious incident” on the service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross at 6.25pm.

“We ask our customers not to travel on Sunday, November 2,” the train line’s latest status update said.

LNER said that those who cannot travel this weekend can use their existing tickets on trains on Monday or Tuesday without having to change.

The statement said, “Our teams are working hard to continue service after this incident and the trains that will run on Sunday, November 2 may be canceled for a short time.”

David Horne, chief executive of train operator London North Eastern Railway, said the company was “deeply shocked and saddened by this serious incident”.

He said in a statement: “Our thoughts are very much with everyone involved.

“I would like to thank the emergency services for their quick and professional response and the care they provided to the injured. “Anyone with information who has not yet spoken to the police is asked to contact British Transport Police.

“The safety and well-being of everyone affected remains our priority. We will continue to do everything we can to support our customers and colleagues during this difficult time.”

A witness said they saw a man armed with a large knife being tasered by police and then taken into custody.

The witness, who gave his name as Gavin, told Sky News: “Actually as they got closer to him they started shouting like get down.

“He then brandished a fairly large knife and they then took him into custody.

“I think it was the stun gun that finally brought him down.”

British Transport Police (BTP) said two men had been arrested in connection with the stabbings, which took place on the train service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross at 6.25pm.

Police said there had been no deaths so far in the attack on the train in Cambridgeshire late last night.

Nine people suffered what police described as “life-threatening” injuries, and a tenth person was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

A witness told Times “there was blood everywhere” and people were being “stamped” by others as they tried to escape.

someone else talking SunHe described the attack as “like something in a movie” and added: “It was a terrible scene, really violent.”