All injured in stable condition after stabbing at Hamburg train station in Germany

BERLIN (AP) — More than a dozen people who were injured in a stabbing attack at the central train station in the German city of Hamburg were in stable condition, police said Saturday.

A 39-year-old woman, a German national, was arrested at the scene of Friday's attack without putting up resistance and police said they believe she acted alone.

The Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported that two passersby managed to overpower the woman and take the knife from her.

It quoted a fire department spokesman, Philipp Baumann, saying that the attack injured 18 people between the ages of 19 and 85. Three women aged 24, 52 and 85, and a 24-year-old man were critically injured. According to the police, however, all four were in stable condition on Saturday.

There was no immediate indication of any political motive, and police said that investigators were looking into whether the suspect may have been mentally ill.

The woman was expected to appear before a judge on Saturday and then placed in a psychiatric ward.

The attacker targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14 in the station at around 6 p.m. Friday. The station in downtown Hamburg, Germany’s second-biggest city, is a major hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.

Carrying weapons, including knives, is banned at the station and on local transport in Hamburg.

Investigators work at Hamburg, Germany's Central Station on Friday, May 23, 2025, after several people were injured in a knife attack. (Georg Wendt/dpa via AP)

Investigators work at Hamburg, Germany's Central Station on Friday, May 23, 2025, after several people were injured in a knife attack. (Georg Wendt/dpa via AP)

Emergency services at the scene of a stabbing at Hamburg Central Station in Hamburg, Germany, Friday, May 23, 2025. (Lukas Mueller/dpa via AP)

Police and forensics work near the crime scene after a stabbing attack at Hamburg Central Station, Friday, May 23, 2025, in Hamburg, Germany. (Georg Wendt/dpa via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)