‘I thought I was going to die’: Uni student describes the ‘horrific’ train stabbings

A UK university student has spoken about her “really horrific” experience of being on the train where the stabbings took place on Saturday 1st November.

Amira Ostalski, a University of Nottingham student, and her friend Vanessa were travelling on the LNER train to London King’s Cross for a night out. They were sitting in Coach G, only a few metres away from the alleged attacker.

The students were “listening to music” and “just having a good time” until they saw a man in a white t-shirt running, and heard shouting. Once she and Vanessa realised somebody had been stabbed, they ran through the train to the kitchen area. Amira told Sky News: “On the way there, we saw people covered in blood as well. It was horrific. It was really horrific, because we had no idea where he [the attacker] was.

“When it’s panic and chaos, you have no idea what’s happening. And then we got told that he’s coming in our direction again.”

She grabbed a metal buffet tray “to feel a bit safer”.

The train at Huntington
(Image via SWNS)

Once Amira and Vanessa had got off the train, they saw the suspected attacker next to the doors. “He looked so calm. And I think that’s the most terrifying thing.” At one point, Amira was approximately two metres away from him.

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“I was honestly so petrified. In that moment, I thought that was probably the last time I would ever be alive. I thought I was going to die, genuinely. Everyone’s running. A guy next to me is holding his arm, covered in blood, saying he got stabbed, and he was right next to me on the train.”

Part of the car park at the station
(Image via SWNS)

Amira and Vanessa made it off the platform and into the parking lot. They saw the suspected attacker again. “He actually jumped the fence and he was heading towards us again, which was really scar. But then I have to admit the police came really quickly and managed to detain him right in front of our eyes and he got tasered and he fell right on the spot next to the red bins.”

Vanessa and Amira found a taxi, and asked the driver to lock the doors.

32-year-old Anthony Williams has been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder in connection with the stabbings on the LNER train, and another incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station. He has also been charged with possession of a bladed article, and actual bodily harm.

11 people have been treated in hospital. A railway staff member who defended other people during the attack is in a “critical but stable condition”.

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Featured image of the train via SWNS. Featured image of Amira Ostalski via Sky News / YouTube.