Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis pledges financial support to supporters affected by mass stabbing on train leaving Peterborough
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has pledged financial support to aid the recovery of club fans caught up in a mass stabbing on a train leaving Peterborough Railway Station.
The club has confirmed that a number of its London-based fans were travelling on the 6:25pm service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday evening.
The fans would have been attending the Premier League side’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United at the City Ground in Nottingham, which kicked off at 3pm.
The train was due to terminate at London but the driver was forced to make an emergency stop at Huntingdon, shortly after leaving the scheduled stop at Peterborough at around 7:30pm.
Eight minutes after the 999 calls were received, two men were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
A total of 10 people were taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. One person later ‘self presented’ at hospital. Initially, nine people were described as having ‘life threatening injuries’ but not only two remain fighting for their lives.
One man is a 32 year old black man, the other a 35-year-old man of Caribbean descent, both were born in the UK.
On Sunday morning, both were being detained at separate police stations for questioning.
On Sunday evening, Nottingham Forest issued a statement offering its support to the victims.
A club statement read: “Nottingham Forest Football Club wishes to express its deepest concern and heartfelt sympathy to all those affected by the shocking attack on an LNER train bound for London yesterday evening.
“Many of our London-based supporters were travelling home on that train following our match at the City Ground, and our thoughts are very much with everyone caught up in such a distressing incident.
“The Club is aware that many individuals demonstrated extraordinary bravery which undoubtedly helped prevent even greater harm. The entire Nottingham Forest family stands firmly behind them as they recover from the events of yesterday.
“Evangelos Marinakis, Nottingham Forest’s owner, said: Everyone at Nottingham Forest is shocked and deeply saddened by what happened. The courage and selflessness shown by our supporters on that train represents the very best of humanity and the very best of our club’s community.
“We will make sure any supporter caught up in this incident receives whatever financial support they require to enable them to access the best possible medical care as they recover. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.”