When people began to flee down the train carriage shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”, terrified passengers thought it was a Halloween prank.
But when Olly Foster leant on a chair and found it soaked in blood, he realised something horrific was unfolding.
Eleven people onboard the London-bound LNER train from Doncaster were hurt in the mass stabbing attack, including nine seriously injured. They were rushed to hospital after the train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.
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British Transport Police have said there is “nothing to suggest” the rampage was terror-related as they question two British nationals on suspicion of attempted murder.
Everything we know about how the attack unfolded
The 6.25pm service from Doncaster departed on time. The London-bound train sped through the Midlands and into Cambridgeshire, making brief stops at Retford, Newark, and Grantham as planned. The service looked set to arrive at King’s Cross before 8.30pm on Saturday night.
At around 7.39pm, as the train passed between its scheduled stops of Peterborough and Stevenage, a passenger made a desperate call reporting a “multiple stabbing” to emergency services.
Witnesses said passengers fled from a man with a large knife, with some hiding in the toilets to escape the rampage.
One told The Times there was “blood everywhere” and people were getting “stamped” on by others as they tried to flee.
The witness said: “I heard some people shouting we love [you].”
Another witness described the attack as “like something from a film”, telling The Sun: “It was a terrible scene, really violent.”
One man told Sky News he believed he saw the suspect tasered before he was arrested by armed officers.
“Essentially, as they got closer to him, started shouting, like, get down get down,” he said.
“He then was waving a knife, quite a large knife, and then they detained him. I think it was a Taser that got him down in the end.”
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Olly Foster told the BBC he thought the attack may have been a Halloween prank when he heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”.
Mr Foster said that people quickly started pushing through the carriage, and he noticed his hand was “covered in blood” as there was “blood all over the chair” he had leaned on.
An older man “blocked” the attacker from stabbing a younger girl, leaving him with injuries to his head and neck, Mr Foster said, adding other passengers used their clothing to try and stem the bleeding. He said the incident “felt like forever”.
British Transport Police said a major incident was declared, and at one point declared “Plato”, the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”, before the latter declaration was subsequently rescinded.
The train was planned to travel through Huntingdon at 125mph on a fast track that does not have access to a platform.
But the quick-thinking train driver and crew, working with the signallers, were able to divert the train to the slow line and bring it to a halt at the first available station within 14 minutes of departure from Peterborough, with armed police waiting.
Video footage on social media showed scores of blue-light police cars and emergency vehicles in a station car park, and a team of armed police running towards the stationary train at Huntingdon station.
The 10 people injured were rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. Police confirmed there had been no fatalities, although nine of the victims are being treated for life-threatening injuries.
“We’re conducting urgent enquiries to establish what has happened, and it could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further,” chief superintendent Chris Casey said.
“At this early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.”
However defence secretary John Healey told Sky News on Sunday morning that early assessments suggest the incident was an “isolated attack”.
In a statement on X, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The appalling incident on a train near Huntingdon is deeply concerning.
“My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response.”
