GETTY A man has stabbed himself in the head at Heathrow Airport

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The man was said to have started cutting himself outside Fortnum & Mason in the Terminal 5 departure lounges after passing through the London airport's security checks, witnesses said. He has since been hospitalised with non life-threatening injures after the incident took place at around 5:45pm yesterday afternoon. Shocked passengers desperately tried to stop the man, who was described as "Middle Eastern or north African looking", after he began attacking his head outside the Fortnum & Mason store.

He was said to have used a sharp object picked up after passing through security and custom checks. The man was only stopped after two cabin crew members disarmed him before police and ambulances arrived at the scene. No other passengers were injured in the incident.

GETTY He has since been taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries

GETTY The incident happened in Terminal 5

Horrified witnesses took to Twitter this evening to describe the moment the man began “constantly stabbing himself in the head with what looked like a knife”. One passenger, who did not want to be named, said: “I quite quickly saw a Middle Eastern or north African looking gentleman constantly stabbing the side of his head with a knife and blood all down him.

There was blood all the way down the side of his face and down his shirt Tamara Lynch

“People were trying to stop him without getting too close... He never tried to attack anyone apart from himself.” Tamara Lynch, who was heading home to Manchester from Heathrow when the attack happened, said: “I didn’t realise what was going on at first. "I came round the corner and there was this poor guy with five or six security guards all around him.” She added: “There was blood all the way down the side of his face and down his shirt.”

GETTY The man was only stopped when two cabin crew members disarmed him