Teen Critically Injured in Vienna Stabbing as City Faces Twin Knife Attacks
VIENNA — A teenage boy was left fighting for his life after a knife attack at Schedifkaplatz in Vienna’s Meidling district on Thursday evening, in one of two violent incidents that shook the Austrian capital within hours.
Police said the youth suffered a life-threatening injury when an assailant’s blade struck a major artery in his thigh. Paramedics from the city’s emergency service rushed to the scene and provided intensive first aid before he was transported to a hospital for emergency surgery. By Friday morning, police spokesperson Anna Gutt reported the teen was out of immediate danger and in stable condition.
Investigators believe the assault followed a confrontation between the victim and a group of other youths, who fled the area before officers arrived. The motive for the attack remains unclear, and authorities have launched a citywide search for the suspects.
Just a few miles away, another stabbing unfolded later that same evening at Vienna’s busy Westbahnhof station in the Neubau district. A 32-year-old man was attacked after being approached by an unknown individual while walking with a friend. According to police, the assailant suddenly produced a knife and stabbed the victim in the thigh before escaping toward the train platforms. The injured man was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to recover.
Police said there is currently no indication that the two incidents are connected, though both have heightened public concern over violent street crime in the city.
Authorities are urging anyone with information about either assault to come forward. Tips including anonymous ones; can be submitted at any police station as investigators continue their search for the attackers.
