Four people have been stabbed on board a train in Tokyo, public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday.

The train on the Yamanote loop line, one of Tokyo’s most used routes, was suspended due to “trouble on the train” at Akihabara station in the capital at around 13:56 GMT, East Japan Railway Company wrote on X formerly known as Twitter.

Citing local police, NHK reported that a woman was allegedly wielding a knife on a train at Akihabara Station. She is believed to be in police custody and an investigation into the incident has been opened.

All four victims have been taken to hospital.

Further tragedy

It comes after more than 50,000 people were forced to flee their homes in Japan on New Year’s Day after a series of powerful earthquakes triggered the country’s first major tsunami warning since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Sixty-four people have reportedly died and many others are still thought to be buried under rubble in what has been named the country’s strongest earthquake in nearly a decade.

The country faced further tragedy on Tuesday when a Japan Airlines plane collided with a coastguard plane at Tokyo’s main airport. All 390 passengers and crew escaped the burning passenger jet but five of the six crew in the smaller plane were killed.