LONDON (AP) — British authorities have clarified that the mass stabbing on a train headed for London on Saturday night was not linked to terrorism. Officials confirmed that two individuals remain critically injured.
The police have detained two British-born men on charges of attempted murder, holding them in separate stations. The arrests occurred just eight minutes after emergency services were alerted at 7:42 p.m. Passengers on the train described scenes of pandemonium, with many fleeing through the carriages and some hiding in the toilets.
Speaking outside the Huntingdon station in eastern England, where the train made its emergency stop, British Transport Police Superintendent John Loveless expressed, “This is a disturbing event, and my thoughts are with the injured and their families.” He further emphasized, “There is no evidence to suggest this was a terrorist act.”
The two suspects, one identified as a 32-year-old Black British man and the other a 35-year-old of Caribbean heritage, remain in custody. Details regarding their relationship and the weapon used in the attack have not been disclosed.
Superintendent Loveless updated the public on the victims’ conditions, noting a decrease in those critically injured from nine to two. Four individuals have been released from the hospital, and one additional person sought treatment, bringing the total number of those treated to 11.
Loveless also gave an update on the wounded, reducing the number in life-threatening condition from nine to two. He said four of them were discharged and that one other person arrived at the hospital, taking the overall number treated to 11.
After its emergency stop in Huntingdon, a market town around 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of London, bloodied and confused passengers spilled out of the train. Dozens of police waited, some of them armed, and the two suspects were quickly arrested, Loveless said.
During the immediate response to the attack, police said that “Plato,” the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to what could be a “marauding terror attack,” was initiated. That declaration was later rescinded but no motive for the attack has been disclosed.
“At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident,” Loveless said.
The attack took place as the 6:25 p.m. train from Doncaster in northern England to London’s King’s Cross station was about halfway through its two-hour journey, having just departed from a stop at Peterborough.
Passenger Olly Foster told the BBC he heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone,” and initially thought it might have been a Halloween prank — Saturday was the day after Halloween. But as passengers pushed past him to get away, he noticed his hand was covered in blood from a chair he had leaned on.
Following reports that some of those on board the train put themselves in harm’s way to protect others, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood praised the “exceptional bravery of staff and passengers on the train.”
King Charles III said he and his wife, Queen Camilla, sent their sympathies and thoughts to those affected and that they were “truly appalled and shocked to hear of the dreadful knife attack.”
London North Eastern Railway, or LNER, which operates the East Coast Mainline services in the U.K., confirmed the incident had happened on one of its trains and said there would be major disruption on the route until Monday.
British Transport Police’s Loveless said passengers will see a “high visibility presence of police officers at stations and on trains” on Sunday.
