Bloodbath in England

Knife horror on a train: “Someone is stabbing everyone!”

The passengers left their luggage behind.(Bild: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

"There was blood everywhere", report eyewitnesses after the knife attack on a train near the English town of Huntingdon on Saturday evening. Eleven people were treated in hospital, two are still in mortal danger. Nothing is yet known about the background to the attack.

One passenger reported seeing a man with a large knife and "blood everywhere" on the train heading for London. The police, alerted by passengers, stopped the train at Huntingdon station and two people were arrested. He saw police officers on the platform using tasers to subdue a man with a large knife, a passenger told Sky News.

"Felt like forever"
 Eyewitness Olly Foster was on the train himself when suddenly other passengers shouted: "Run, run, there's someone stabbing everyone!". At first he thought it was a Halloween prank, Foster told the BBC. But within a few minutes, people began to push their way through the carriage in panic.

Foster's hand was suddenly "covered in blood", he says. Because there was "blood all over the seat" he had been leaning against. The whole incident only lasted a few minutes - "but it felt like forever."

An elderly gentleman showed civil courage and prevented one of the two alleged attackers from assaulting a younger girl. The man himself was injured in the process, suffering cuts to his head and neck. The remaining passengers tried to help the brave gentleman and stop his bleeding with jackets, Foster describes the dramatic scenes.

The train is still at the station.(Bild: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Emergency services on site(Bild: AFP/JUSTIN TALLIS)

The area was cordoned off.(Bild: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Emergency services in front of the train.(Bild: AP/Chris Radburn)

"Someone has a knife"
 Wren Chambers was also on the train when the journey took a dark turn. A man with a bleeding wound on his arm had come running into the carriage where she was sitting, Chambers told the BBC. He had shouted: "Someone has a knife!". She then grabbed her things and ran into the front carriage of the train to get as far away from the attacker as possible. "All the passengers on the train pushed forward ... everyone huddled together," she says.

Then, when the train stopped, most people ran outside to try to escape the carnage, Chambers says. "We knew that the attacker was most likely still somewhere on the train."

Motive unclear
The background to the incident is still unclear. But: "At this stage, there are no indications that this was a terrorist incident," said police spokesman John Loveless.

The travelers left their luggage behind.(Bild: AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

The police arrested two British nationals and charged them with attempted murder. They are a 32-year-old black man and a 35-year-old British man with Caribbean roots, the police said. The two men were arrested very quickly, namely within eight minutes of the emergency calls on the train.

Ten people were taken to hospital after the knife attacks, and another person was taken to hospital later that evening. Nine people were classified as having life-threatening injuries, four of whom have already been discharged. Two people are still in mortal danger.