Today's Edition
Hamburg (dpa)
The knife attack at Hamburg Central Station was stopped thanks to the brave intervention by two bystanders.
"The very quick intervention by two bystanders who were on the platform ... was able to interrupt the attack," the police said on Saturday.
Emergency services were then able to quickly arrest the 39-year-old German woman. The arresting officers were a four-person team consisting of federal and state police as well as security forces from the rail operators.
The 39-year-old female suspect, who is very likely mentally ill, had already been handling the knife on the southern footbridge of the main station. She is to be brought before a magistrate on Saturday who will decide whether she should be placed in a medical facility.
The police still see no indication of a political motivation behind the attack.
"Rather, there are now very concrete indications of a mental illness in the suspect," the police said.
There are currently no indications that she was under the influence of intoxicating substances such as alcohol or drugs, they said, without providing further details.
The exact sequence of events is still being reconstructed.
Trains were running according to schedule again at Hamburg Central Station the morning after the knife attack, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn confirmed to dpa early Saturday.
The attack on platform 13/14 Friday evening led to a major operation by police and rescue services. Investigators were busy securing evidence well into the night.
Eighteen people aged between 19 and 85 were injured in the attack. Three women aged 24, 52 and 85, as well as a 24-year-old man, were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police said in an update on Saturday that they were all stable.
Seven other people were seriously injured, and seven people sustained minor injuries.
Investigators currently believe that this was the act of a lone perpetrator. Police spokesman Florian Abbenseth told dpa that the suspect did not resist arrest.
The knife used in the attack has been secured. There are many eyewitnesses who need to be interviewed, police said.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher posted on X that the attack was appalling. He added: "The perpetrator is in custody. I wish the victims of the act much strength and hope that the seriously injured will also be saved."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on X: "The news from Hamburg is distressing. My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. My thanks go to all the emergency services on site for their quick help."
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt condemned the knife attack. "It is shocking when travellers are attacked in a cowardly and despicable manner," Dobrindt said, according to his ministry.
