London: Two teenagers were stabbed to death in London within a span of just six hours as the UK capital’s horrific wave of such killings continue unabated, local media reported.
The first victim, a 15-year-old was stabbed by at least five youths near a busy bus stop in Woolwich, southeast London at about 5.20 p.m. on Monday, Xinhua news agency quoted the Evening Standard newspaper as saying on Tuesday.
He was reported by one witness to have tried to use an umbrella to fight off his attackers but died at the scene despite efforts by members of the public and ambulance staff to save him, said the newspaper.
At least two knives and what appeared to be the umbrella could be seen lying in the street after police sealed off the crime scene.
The second killing happened just before midnight in Oval Place, Lambeth, in south London.
Police were called to reports of a stabbing of a 16-year-old boy.
Neighbours told the newspaper how two off-duty nurses battled in vain to save him after he was found slumped at the top of stairs in a block of flats.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan responded on Tuesday by saying he was “heartbroken and appalled” by the latest killings and was “determined to do everything in my power to put an end to these horrendous crimes”.
The killings, which follow the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Camron Smith on his doorstep in Croydon on July 1, take the number of teenage homicides so far this year to 21, 19 of whom were stabbed.
The total is already well beyond the 15 teenage killings last year and puts the capital on course to possibly record its worst ever total for a calendar year.
The current peak of 29 teen homicides was recorded in 2008.
