A bird's-eye view of Kunming Railway Station on Sunday morning. [Photo / Xinhua]

When the attack started, Wang Xianglong, a migrant worker from Baoshan city in Yunnan, and other passengers were waiting to board a train to Hebei province in North China. Wang Dezhu, one of Wang Xianlong's colleagues, said several migrant workers used bamboo hookah pipes to fend off the attackers.

Wang Xianlong wasn't aware he had sustained a deep cut to his abdomen, according to Wang Dezhu, who cared for many of the injured.

"I clearly saw his intestines coming out. He caught them and held them in place until the ambulance came to our aid," said Wang Dezhu. "Our colleagues are mostly in their 50s or 60s and they can't stand up to attacks like this. It's not safe out there anymore and we won't go to Hebei or any other province just to make money."

Wang Yangsheng from Guangzhou in Guangdong province, who was on a business trip, was buying a ticket at the station when the attack started. "I was facing the machine. Who could imagine that someone would slash me from behind?" said the 31-year-old, who sustained minor injuries.

He said the hospital was full of the injured by the time he arrived and the medical staff was racing to treat the victims. "I didn't have to pay for the treatment, and the authorities even provided free food," he said.

Although his wife is planning to fly to Kunming to look after him, Wang Yangsheng said he won't feel safe until he is at home. "I hope I can recover quickly and leave this place as soon as possible."

Yunnan University student Wu Jiangli was being treated for head injuries. "Whenever I close my eyes, the bloody scene comes into my mind again. My head is full of people's screams and blood. My physical injuries aren't serious, but a lot of mental harm has been done," she said.

Ma Juan, a student at Dali Medical College who was slashed across the head, said she was heading back to school in Dali, about 350 kilometers from Kunming, when the attackers appeared. "My head was slashed by a knife just as I began to run. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't even see the person who injured me. Fearing I might be struck again, I ran out to the road to call for help. I was in severe pain," she said.

With the help of passersby, Ma was taken to hospital. When she learned that 29 people had died and more than 120 had been injured, she said nothing, she just cried.

A spate of attacks

Saturday's attack was the most serious incident in China since 2009, when 197 people died in a riot in Urumqi.

In June last year, 24 people were killed and 23 injured in an attack in Lukqun Township, Turpan prefecture in Xinjiang. Local police said the suspected leader of the gang arranged for members to watch videos promoting religious extremism, and in the days before the attack, terrorists from Kuqa county in the south of the region called on the gang to carry out a jihad, or holy war.