British police have arrested two men in connection with a mass stabbing that injured 11 people aboard a London-bound train.

Police responded to reports of knife attacks on a train from Doncaster, a city in the northeast of England, to London’s famous King’s Cross station at around 8 p.m. on Nov. 1. The train made an unscheduled stop in Huntingdon, a market town near the University of Cambridge, and police say they arrested two men on suspicion of attempted murder within minutes.

Ten people were taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance, and one other person later admitted themself to a hospital, according to police. Initial reports suggested nine people suffered life-threatening injuries, but four have since been released from the hospital. Two remain in critical condition.

Passengers who spoke to the BBC recounted a bloody, gruesome scene. One passenger, Olly Foster, told the outlet he believed the stabbing was a Halloween prank when people initially began shouting. Soon, though, a man “covered in blood” walked into his train car and sat down.

"I put my hand on this chair ... and then I look at my hand, and it's covered in blood. And then I look at the chair, and there's blood all over the chair. And then I look ahead and there's blood on all the chairs," he said.

One man attempted to block one of the attackers from stabbing a young girl, Foster recounted. People in the train car used a bottle of whiskey to protect themselves against the attackers, Foster told the BBC. The incident, he said, lasted 10-15 minutes but "felt like forever.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident “appalling” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response. Anyone in the area should follow the advice of the police,” Starmer wrote.

King Charles III said in a statement posted to social media that he and his wife, Queen Camilla, were “shocked to hear of the dreadful knife attack” and sent their sympathies to the victims.

British Transportation Police Superintendent John Loveless said there is “nothing to suggest” the stabbing was a terrorist attack. Both suspects, a 32-year-old and a 35-year-old, were born in the United Kingdom.

Police are continuing to investigate the crime and motive.

"We continue work to establish the full circumstances and motivation for this incident," Loveless said in a statement. "It would not be appropriate to speculate on the cause."

The Huntingdon train station will remain closed throughout the day Nov. 2, but British police said trains will continue passing through.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 11 people injured in UK train stabbing attack, police arrest 2 men

Reporting by Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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