UK train stabbing: How a heroic elderly man saved a girl and ended up severely wounded

UK train attack

When armed attackers stormed a London-bound train in Cambridgeshire on Saturday, an elderly man reportedly shielded a young girl from being stabbed, despite suffering severe wounds to his head and neck, a witness told the BBC.

The witness said the man’s bravery prevented the attackers from harming the girl on the LNER Azuma train travelling from Peterborough to London. The witness recalled hearing people shout, “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone,” and at first thought it was a Halloween prank.

But as chaos erupted, passengers rushed through the carriage in panic. “My hand was covered in blood that had spilled onto the chair I had been leaning on,” the witness said, describing the scene as horrifying. Although the ordeal lasted just 10 to 15 minutes, he said it “felt like forever.”

What happened?

The attack occurred on a busy evening service between Doncaster in northern England and King’s Cross station in London. The train was forced to stop at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire, where armed police officers boarded and arrested two suspects.

British Transport Police said ten people were taken to the hospital, nine of whom suffered life-threatening injuries. The suspects’ identities and motives have not yet been confirmed, though counter-terrorism officers are assisting with the investigation.

A witness named Gavin told Sky News that passengers tried to escape through the carriages to flee the attackers. “They were making their way through the carriage to get away from the suspects. They were extremely bloodied,” he said. Gavin added that one of the attackers carried “quite a large knife” and was “running rampant” during the stabbing spree.

Another witness, Olly Foster, said he was alerted when wounded passengers ran through the train, shouting, “run, run, there’s a guy stabbing literally everyone and everything.” Initially, he thought it was a Halloween-related prank until he saw blood on the seats. “It felt like forever,” he said of the attack, which lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. Foster added that passengers’ only means of defense was “a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.”

Authorities confirmed that police used the code word “Plato,” which in the UK signals a suspected “marauding terror attack.” Two men dressed in black were tasered and taken into custody after the train stopped.

According to AFP, the London North Eastern Railway urged passengers to avoid travel on Sunday, warning of potential cancellations as investigations continued.