British police on Sunday denied rumors that a mass stabbing attack on a London-bound train the previous evening was linked to terrorism and said two injured people remained in a life-threatening condition.
Police also said two men, born in the United Kingdom, were still detained at different police stations. They were arrested eight minutes after the first emergency calls at 7:42 p.m. from the train, where passengers had reported scenes of panic and chaos, with many running around the carriages and some seeking shelter in toilets.
“This is a shocking incident, and my thoughts are with those who were injured and their families,” British Transport Police Supt. said John Loveless outside Huntingdon station in eastern England, where the train stopped shortly after the attack.
“There is nothing to suggest that this is a terrorist incident,” he added.
The two men arrested remain in custody, he said, adding that one was 32 years old and the other 35 years old.
Loveless also provided an update on the injured, reducing the number of people in life-threatening condition from nine to two. He said four patients were discharged from the hospital and another person arrived at the hospital, bringing the total number to 11.
After its emergency stop in Huntingdon, a market town about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of London, bloodied and confused passengers emerged from the train. Dozens of police officers were waiting, some armed, and the two suspects were arrested eight minutes after the first calls to emergency services, Loveless said.
In the immediate response to the attack, police said ‘Plato’, the national code word used by police and emergency services to respond to what could be a ‘marauding terrorist attack’, had been called out. This statement was later rescinded, but no motive for the attack was revealed.
“At this early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident,” Loveless said.
The attack took place when the 6.25pm train from Doncaster, in northern England, to King’s Cross station in London was about halfway through its two-hour journey, having just left a stop in 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, since Saturday was a day after Halloween.
But as passengers passed him to walk away, he noticed his hand was covered in blood from a chair he had been leaning on.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his “thoughts are with everyone affected” after “this appalling incident”.
King Charles III said he and his wife Queen Camilla had sent their condolences and thoughts to those affected and were “truly dismayed and shocked to learn of the terrible knife attack”.
London North Eastern Railway, or LNER, which operates East Coast Mainline services in the United Kingdom, confirmed the incident occurred on one of its trains and said there would be major disruption to the route until Monday.
Loveless, of the British Transport Police, said passengers will see a “highly visible police presence at stations and on trains” on Sunday.
