LONDON – Ten people were injured in a stabbing attack on a train connecting London to northeast England on Saturday night, authorities said.
Nine suffered life-threatening injuries, while a tenth victim was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, British Transport Police said in a statement early Sunday.
“There have been no fatalities,” the agency said.
The UK’s Counter Terrorism Police, an agency that includes involvement from 43 police forces in England and Wales, as well as contributions from Police Scotland and Northern Ireland, is assisting with the investigation led by Transport Police, he said.
Transport police said they hope to discover “the full circumstances and motivation” of the attack, which was “declared a serious incident”.
“At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident,” Transport Police Chief Superintendent Chris Casey said in the statement.
Police and medics rushed to a station in Huntingdon, where the train was stopped following a report of stabbings at 7:42 pm GMT (3:42 pm ET), according to transport police and a video of what happened on social media.
Cambridgeshire Police, who patrol the area, arrested two people at the scene, officials said. No charges were brought against them.
A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said it received reports of the attack a minute earlier and transported “multiple patients” to a medical centre.
Their response included numerous ambulances, tactical commanders, a hazard response team and two helicopters used to transport patients, the spokesperson said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the violence “appalling” and “deeply worrying” and said: “My thoughts are with all those affected and my thanks to the emergency services for their response.”
The London North East Railway (LNER) has issued a ‘Do Not Travel’ alert for the line, saying the train service has been disrupted and those with immediate plans to use it should “delay their journey where they can” and make new seat reservations.
Buses were initially offered to travel between London and points north, including Huntingdon, 77 miles north of the capital, and Peterborough, 22 miles north of Huntingdon, the railway said. The line through Huntingdon would be out of service until at least 5am GMT on Sunday, LNER said.
“We are aware of an incident involving one of our trains,” said the line, one of England’s four main railways. “Our immediate concern is the welfare of our customers and the crew on board. We are in the process of gathering as many details as we can and are in contact with the British Transport Police.”
That agency said the train was on the 6:25 pm GMT (2:25 pm ET) service from Doncaster, about 100 miles northwest of Huntingdon, to London King’s Cross when the attacks occurred.
The A1307, a rural Cambridgeshire road leading to the center of Huntingdon, was also closed amid the investigation into the attack, Cambridgeshire Police said.
Dennis Romero reported from San Diego and Jamie Gray from London.
