Knife crime on the rise, 10 pa

INTERNATIONAL

Knife crime on the rise, 10 passengers stabbed in London train

A horrifying mass stabbing on a London-bound running train on Saturday evening has triggered off panic that left 10 people in hospital, nine likely with "life-threatening injuries."

The police have detained two persons in connection with the dreaded incident within three hours.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, considering the gravity of the scene, said the "appalling" incident was "deeply concerning."

"My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response," Starmer said in a statement on X.

Knife crime in England and Wales has been steadily rising since 2011, according to official government data. Nearly 60,000 blades have been either "seized or surrendered" in England and Wales as part of government efforts to halve knife crime within a decade, the interior ministry said in a statement.

While Britain has some of the strictest gun controls in the world, rampant knife crime has been branded a "national crisis" by Starmer.

The incident occurred at around 7:40 pm yesterday soon after the train had left Peterborough town station.

The Armed police, backed by police cars and a fleet of ambulances, swarmed a railway station in the eastern rural town of Huntingdon of Cambridgeshire, after the alarm was raised about the attack and the train brought to a halt there, sources said.

The East of England Ambulance Service said on X that it had mobilised a "large-scale response" to Huntingdon station, including ambulances, air ambulances, and tactical commanders.