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Girl froze as knife-wielding maniac came for her on a train—an elderly man with just a bottle stepped in to save her

The incident on the train left many passengers shocked and a few injured.
PUBLISHED NOV 5, 2025
(L) Girl looking scared. (R) Old man on train. Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | bymuratdeniz; Pekic
(L) Girl looking scared. (R) Old man on train. Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | bymuratdeniz; Pekic

Some people are always ready to put their own lives on the line to help others in need. An old man also placed himself between a terrified young girl and a violent attacker while they were on a train. People were on their regular commute from Peterborough to London in the UK when assailants armed with knives came onto the train. The attackers started stabbing passengers, so they started running to protect themselves. At one point, one of the attackers was about to stab a girl when an old man put himself between them and helped the girl with just a bottle in hand, per the New York Post.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | Lee Harding
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Lee Harding

A witness, Olly Foster, had run to the back of the train to escape the attackers on the LREN train. The two attackers had seriously injured many people as they went on a rampage. So the passengers were trying to escape to avoid any life-threatening stab wounds. Foster had reached the last carriage of the train when he witnessed the old man take knife attacks to his head and neck to save the girl. "By the time I got to the end of the carriage, I was actually at the back of it and there were about six of us. There was a girl, bless her, who was really, really in a bit of a state because the guy actually tried to stab her. And one of the older guys, who's an absolute hero, blocked it with his head. We're giving him jackets to keep the pressure on the blood."

Masked suspicious man in black looking strangely. (Representative Image Source: Pexels| Photo by Anna Shvets)
Masked suspicious man in black looking strangely. (Representative Image Source: Pexels| Photo by Anna Shvets)

All the passengers eventually ran and sat in the last carriage. They only had a bottle of Jack Daniel's Whiskey to defend themselves in case one of the attackers came to the last carriage. "We had a Jack Daniel's bottle between us, and that was it. So we're sitting there with one Jack Daniel's bottle looking down this carriage, praying someone doesn’t walk down with a knife or a gun," Foster went on. Initially, when injured and bleeding passengers warned Foster about the attack, he thought that someone had orchestrated a Halloween prank. So, he was horrified to hear that the assailants were actually stabbing everything in their way. "Run, run, there's a guy stabbing literally everyone and everything," the passengers warned.

An old man on a bus - Representative Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Abi Ismail
An old man on a vehicle. - Representative Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Abi Ismail

The police didn't know why the attack happened. After being informed about the incident, police cars and ambulances were parked outside the station to help the passengers. Paramedics and officers also stood around the station to help injured people on the train. The attack went on for around 10 to 15 minutes, per Foster. According to the outlet, code "Plato" was used for the attack, which is used in the country for "marauding terror attacks." But then the police confirmed that the attack was not being seen as a terror incident. Two attackers were found at the train station and were taken into police custody.

Police officer talking on an intercom - Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Roy Morsch
Police officer talking on an intercom - Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Roy Morsch

The men were being questioned for attempted murder. In the meantime, 10 injured people were taken to the hospital from the station. Nine of them were suffering from life-threatening injuries. The passengers were shocked and horrified because of the unexpected incident. "They were making their way through the carriage to get away from the suspects. They were extremely bloodied," another witness said, explaining the state of the people on the train.

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