Horror at the railway station: eyewitnesses tell of Kunming slaughter
Witnesses describe scene of horror as travellers tried to flee knife-wielding attackers dressed in black who went on rampage at railway station
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 02 March, 2014, 3:01pm
UPDATED : Monday, 03 March, 2014, 5:40am
Chris Luo and Li Jing
An injured man is pushed on a gurney at a hospital after a knife attack at Kunming railway station, Yunnan province. Photo: Reuters
Unable to pay for a budget hotel, a Yunnan couple decided instead to pass the hours until their train departed by staying inside Kunming railway station on Saturday.
It was about 9pm when Xiong Wenguang, a 59-year-old migrant worker from Chuxiong county, saw a knife-wielding man rush towards them and pushed his wife out of the way, Xinhua reported. His quick thinking saved her life, but Xiong was not so lucky. He was one of the 29 killed.
"We were planning to take a morning train on Sunday to Zhejiang for work. The tickets are still with my husband," Chen Guizhen, 50, told Xinhua.
Blood stains are seen on the square of the Kunming railway station after the attack. Photo: AFP
Witnesses said the attackers included both men and women. They were dressed in black and used long knives to stab and slash passengers at random, among them children and the elderly.
One witness told the Beijing Times he was in a waiting room when the violence erupted. "Six or seven men in black with knives rushed at us, stabbing everyone in front of them," he said.
His friend tried to shield his young daughter from the killers.
But he said: "In protecting his six-year-old daughter, he was sliced from chest to neck and fell to the ground with blood pouring from the wound."
He added: "Some of the assailants wore masks, others did not. The weapons they used were 60cm-long knives and 30cm-long daggers."
Another witness, Yang Haifei, told Xinhua: "Masked men in black clothes were everywhere. They were chopping anyone in sight. One man in his 20s in ordinary clothes walked towards me when everyone was fleeing.
"He then fished out a long knife and sliced me on the chest. I ran."
Wang Dinggeng told the Times that outside the station, two women in black began to "chop people around them with arm-long, sword-like knives".
Wang said people ran into the station only to find "four masked attackers driving everyone to flee to another exit". Wang added: "A middle-aged man had a knife stuck so deeply in his back only its handle was visible."
An unnamed Harbin resident was reported by the China News Agency as saying his mother was among the victims.
"My mother tripped over a chair. I failed to pull her up. One attacker thrust a knife into my mother's throat. Instead of pulling it out, the attacker drew another chopping knife he had with him and continued to chop her."
Another Harbin resident said: "Seven or eight people with knives assaulted everyone in sight, including the elderly and children. The attackers continued to strike at people on the ground who weren't dead."
Two security staff were killed and at least seven police officers were injured, Xinhua said.
Yesterday police were believed to be hunting for an unknown number of assailants.
Sun Jianjun, deputy head of the Third People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, told the Post that 36 victims were sent to the hospital, but seven died on the way. Those in critical condition included a woman who was six months pregnant. Doctors said the baby was still alive but she had suffered heavy bleeding.
Sun said: "Many of the injured were stabbed more than once. The knives were very sharp and at least 50 centimetres long."
He said over 200 doctors and nurses had been working round the clock to treat the injured.
