Ten people injured in knife rampage on Tokyo train with passengers fleeing onto tracks

At least 10 passengers have been injured after a man ran amok with a knife on a Tokyo commuter train.

At about 8.40pm local time several people told police they had been stabbed while on a train on the Odakyu Odawara Line in the western part of the city, according to local media.

NHK public television said one passenger was seriously injured in the attack.

The suspect is understood to have left a kitchen knife at the scene, with passengers evacuating onto the railway tracks as he fled at the Soshigaya-Okura station of the Odakyu Electric Railway in Setagaya Ward.

Station staff members were pictured behind a police cordon near passengers at the scene, while officers were seen moving through the carriage.

The man in his 20s later gave himself up in a convenience store where he was arrested at around 10pm, according to reports.

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A train station staff member stands near passengers at the site where a stabbing incident occurred on a train, at the Soshigaya-Okura station of the Odakyu Electric Railway in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo

Staff and passengers on a platform at the Soshigaya-Okura station of the Odakyu Electric Railway in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo ( REUTERS)

The Tokyo Fire Department said nine of the injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals, though the tenth didn't need further treatment.

All of those injured were conscious, fire department officials said.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

Police officer walks by passengers after a knife attack on a train in Tokyo, Japan August 6, 2021

A police officer walks through a carriage of the night train after the incident ( TWITTER/_KING_OF_SKY via REUTERS)

People evacuate onto railway tracks after a knife attack on another train on the same line in Tokyo

People evacuate onto railway tracks ( via REUTERS)

One injured passenger, a woman in her 20s, sustained serious back injuries, NHK said, citing emergency response officials.

A witness said passengers rushed out of the carriages and were shouting.

Another told NHK he had seen people smeared with blood and said an announcer asked for doctors and for anyone who had towels.

Dozens of paramedics and police descended on the station.

The incident comes with the city with increased security operations as hosts of the Olympic Games.

Violent crime is rare in Japan but there have been a spate of violent knife attacks by assailants unknown to the victims.

In June 2008, a man in a light truck drove into a crowd in the popular Akihabara district and then jumped out of the vehicle and started stabbing pedestrians, leaving seven dead.