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Terrified train passengers scurried down the platform, closely pursued by a menacing figure wielding a knife, after a sudden emergency stop was made following a stabbing spree that injured ten travelers last night.
Exclusive footage captured by the Daily Mail reveals the chaotic scene as passengers scream and dash along platform two at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Not long after, a man clad in black and brandishing a knife is seen following them.
Two British nationals were taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder after the Saturday night incident in coach J of the LNER service from Doncaster to King’s Cross, which prompted a significant armed police response. Authorities have indicated that the attack doesn’t seem to have ties to terrorism. As of last night, one of the suspects was released without further charges.
Captured by a local business’s CCTV at 7:41 PM, the video shows one passenger apparently falling beneath the train amid the chaos as others desperately try to flee the armed attacker.
Mere seconds later, the knife-wielding individual is seen striding down the platform, then vaulting over a fence before making his way through a nearby parking lot, a large blade conspicuously in hand.
The police initially detained two men, both British-born, with one being of Caribbean heritage. Following inquiries, one of the suspects was released with no further action taken against him.
Police revealed on Sunday morning how 11 people were treated in hospital and two remained in a ‘life-threatening condition’, while four had been discharged.
Terrified passengers were seen running along Huntingdon station’s platform 2 trying to escape
New footage shows a knifeman carrying a blade while walking through a car park next to Huntingdon rail station in Cambridgeshire following Saturday night’s train stabbings
Separate footage also shows another man walking off the train before Tasered by officers on the same platform 2 at the Cambridgeshire station following Saturday night’s attacks
Witnesses have been describing the horrific events which left passengers cowering in toilets for safety – while the carriages were spattered in blood.
Investigators at one point declared Code Plato, a word used by emergency services when responding to a ‘marauding terror attack’ – but police today said there was ‘nothing to suggest this is a terrorist incident’.
The latest footage which has emerged shows a knifeman in the moments immediately following the stabbings and the train stopping at Huntingdon.
He is filmed walking along a platform at the station, where the train was not scheduled to stop but was brought to an emergency halt as a result of the incident.
Blood-curdling screams are heard as the man dressed all in black and with a black hat vaults a fence, after terrified passengers were seen sprinting down the platform to escape – and a medic is heard saying: ‘Move down, move down. Please run, please run.’
The new video comes after updates on the ongoing investigation were provided by police, while there were pledges of ramped-up patrols across rail networks.
Dazed passengers were also filmed stumbling off a train clutching blood-stained rag in striking footage obtained by the Daily Mail – with confused victims looking around themselves asking ‘where are we’ while trundling suitcases off the platform.
An ‘absolute hero’ – who is said to have used his head to block a knifeman from stabbing a young girl – is also understood to be in the recording.
Sirens can be heard blaring as the passenger holds a white rag to his head, with crimson-coloured blood seeping through.
The knifeman was seen crossing tracks at Huntingdon after the train’s emergency stop
The black-clad man then vaulted a fence before continuing to walk on while carrying a blade
He is assisted by another elderly passenger while one person can be heard shouting, ‘Is he okay?’.
An attendant cries, ‘Everyone out’, while the person filming says, ‘That’s mad’, as he records the injured gentleman walking away.
Witnesses have described the traumatic scenes – with passenger Olly Foster, who was in coach H, saying how he was listening to an audiobook when a man ‘suddenly ran past screaming, ‘Run! Run! There’s a guy stabbing literally everyone and everything’.
Mr Foster said he and some other travellers thought it was a ‘joke’ or a ‘Halloween prank’ at first but ‘quickly realised they were serious’ by the look on their face.
He explained how his hand was ‘covered in blood’ after he put it on a chair as he ran through the carriage.
‘There was blood on the top of countless chairs, coming from two of the guys who had been severely stabbed ahead of me,’ he said.
‘A young girl was distraught as the attacker tried to stab her, but a hero of an older man got in the way taking a gash on his forehead and I think another on his neck.’
Mr Foster and other horrified passengers ran to the end of the short train and queued up where he and a few others tried to find a weapon to defend themselves with in case the attackers came.
Superintendent John Loveless, from British Transport Police, told reporters at the scene in Huntingdon on Sunday morning that 11 people had been treated in hospital and two remained in a ‘life-threatening condition’, while four were discharged.
BTP received reports of the incident at 7.42pm yesterday before racing to the scene, where armed officers detained two suspects. One has now been released without further action.
The LNER train at Huntingdon station following the attack on Saturday evening
In a video, one man held a rag to his head as crimson-coloured blood seeped through
He was assisted by another passenger while one person could be heard shouting, ‘Is he okay?’
The dazed man can be seen stumbling around the platform after disembarking the train
The King, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood have been among those posting messages sharing sympathies for those affected and praising people who came to casualties’ aid.
Meanwhile, a source told the Daily Mail: ‘Only one of the men was understood to have been waving a knife around, although two were arrested. One of the men is believed to be from London.’
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor Paul Bristow told the the Daily Mail: ‘I think BTP have done quite a good job coming out early on with this information.
‘People are saying is it right to publicise their ethnicity? I think it’s really important that as much information is shared as early as possible because it quashes social media speculation that the individuals were coming from abroad or were asylum seekers.’ One suspect has been released without further action.
It is unclear whether the suspect was able to pass through open ticket barriers to reach the train.
Mr Bristow told the Mail he regularly used Peterborough station and found that the barriers were often open.
He added: ‘If it transpires that the suspects got on the train at Peterborough then that requires a response from the Cambridgeshire constabulary to find out if they were from Peterborough and it poses the question as to whether they were able to board the train through open ticket gates without buying a ticket.’
But the Mail spoke to a Peterborough resident who caught the same train 24 hours earlier and said the barriers were closed when he passed through the station.
The barriers were closed all day on Sunday while the Mail was in the vicinity of the station. LNER, which manages the station, and BTP were contacted for comment.
Travellers passing through Peterborough station told of their shock at the incident.
One said: ‘I travelled out of here a few hours before the attack. I didn’t see anything untoward at that point, but thank God I didn’t take that train.
‘What happened is just awful. It just seemed like a normal day with passengers busy rushing to their destinations.’
A woman working near Peterborough station when the attack unfolded after the train departed at 7.30pm said: ‘The first I knew anything was wrong was when they seemed to close the station. All the passengers had to get taxis.’
Peterborough City Council leader Shabina Qayyum said: ‘The response of the police, emergency teams, LNER staff and rescue services are to be commended or this could have been much worse.
‘The perpetrators must be brought to justice. Conversations around security on transport will no doubt be at the top of the priority list for all agencies involved.
‘Nothing yet has been confirmed as to whether there is a connection with Peterborough.’
Supt Loveless, speaking at the scene earlier today, said 11 people had been treated in hospital and two remained in a ‘life-threatening condition’, while four had been discharged.
He added that ‘at this stage, there is nothing to suggest this is a terrorist incident’ and that ‘it would not be appropriate to speculate on the cause of this incident’ whilst the investigation is still in its early stages.
Police on the platform by the train at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire after the mass stabbing
Thirty officers rushed to the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) service heading from Doncaster to London King’s Cross after it stopped in the Cambridgeshire town
This is the dramatic moment one of the Huntingdon train stabbing suspects is tasered and arrested by armed police
Separate video footage earlier showed one of the suspects being Tasered and arrested by armed police – as he was heard to shout out: ‘Kill me, kill me.’
That clip was filmed by a taxi driver who was waiting to pick up a passenger near the front of the station in Cambridgeshire.
The footage showed one of the suspects being Tasered while five armed cops tackle him to the ground, with a police dog and its handler also seen.
The Taser can be heard pulsing as officers shout ‘give me your f***ing hands’ as they try to put him in handcuffs.
Viorel Turturica, 42, the taxi driver who captured the scenes, said before the man was arrested he was shouting ‘kill me, kill me, kill me’ to the officers.
The taxi driver said: ‘I had arrived at the station pick-up point at 7.41pm and was waiting for a passenger.
‘As soon as I see the passenger a few minutes later, I then see everybody running out of the station.
‘Then, 10 seconds later, a man dressed in black holding a huge kitchen knife in his hand runs past my car at 7.47pm.
‘The police arrive seconds later and I could hear him shouting ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me’ to them.
‘They then Taser him and as soon as he is down they say to him, ‘Drop your weapon’ – that’s when I started recording.
Witnesses who were onboard when the Huntingdon train attack unfolded have recalled the terrifying scenes (Pictured: The train still parked on the platform on Sunday morning)
Police had at one point declared Code Plato, a word used by police and emergency services when responding to a ‘marauding terror attack’. However, this declaration was later rescinded
‘I didn’t understand the gravity until after I left the area and saw the huge police presence. I was shocked and then I knew it was bad.’
The Class 800 Azuma train remained stationary at Huntingdon station on Sunday morning as inquiries continued.
Police officers have been walking in a line looking at the ground in the car park at the station this afternoon – and have also examined bushes at the edge of the car park and looked inside a bin, close to where the latest video footage was captured.
The station and car park in the Cambridgeshire town remained cordoned off.
Extra police officers are being deployed across the rail network following the knife attack on a train near Huntingdon, with disruption on the line expected to last until the end of Monday.
Government sources have confirmed there would be a ‘surge’ in police presence until at least Tuesday focusing on major terminals such as London, Birmingham, York, Leeds and Manchester, as well as at Huntingdon.
The police officers are likely to be most visible in London and at Huntingdon, but will be deployed across as much of the rail network as possible.
There will also be a visible police presence on trains on the east coast mainline, with sources saying officers usually focus on stations but it was ‘important to reassure passengers’.
A statement on the LNER website states that disruption between London Kings Cross and Peterborough was expected until the end of Monday with Huntingdon station remaining closed until at least then.
It says: ‘The emergency services are continuing to deal with a major incident between Hitchin and Peterborough. Whilst they carry out their work some lines are still closed.
‘Great Northern and Thameslink services will not call at Huntingdon.
‘LNER services between London Kings Cross and Peterborough may be cancelled, revised or delayed.
‘Disruption is expected until the end of the day on Monday 3 November. Grand Central and Hull Trains services are not impacted.’
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: ‘Passengers will see a high visibility presence of officers at stations and on trains throughout today who are there to reassure the public.’
Transport Salaried Staffs Association general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust called on the Government to review railway security to protect workers and customers.
She said: ‘This is an appalling attack on passengers and rail workers alike.
In the hours after the attack, forensic officers could be seen apparently searching for clues on the track at the side of the train which still had its lights on
Objects lie scattered on the ground at Huntingdon station following the knife rampage
‘Our immediate priority is for the welfare of the injured and all those traumatised by what has happened.
‘Transport networks must be safe for everyone, both the travelling public and the staff who serve them.
‘We call on the operator and Government to act swiftly to review security, to support the affected workers and to ensure nothing like this happens again.’
The National Rail website says that lines affected by the disruption are the Great Northern between London Kings Cross and Peterborough, LNER between London Kings Cross and Lincoln, Doncaster, Leeds, Bradford Forster Square and Harrogate, and Thameslink between London Kings Cross, Welwyn Garden City, Hitchin and Peterborough.
It states: ‘Lines have reopened between Hitchin and Peterborough, and trains which run between London Kings Cross and Peterborough will be able to run.
‘If you are travelling to or from Huntingdon, please expect your journey to take up to 20 minutes longer than usual.’
It states that a rail replacement bus service will be running between Huntingdon and St Neots and Peterborough with car parking season tickets for Huntingdon being accepted at St Neots while the station remains closed.
Also on Sunday the King, in a message released by Buckingham Palace, said: ‘My wife and I were truly appalled and shocked to hear of the dreadful knife attack that took place on board a train in Cambridgeshire last night.
‘Our deepest sympathy and thoughts are with all those affected, and their loved ones.
‘We are particularly grateful to the emergency services for their response to this awful incident.’
