Girl, 16, stabbed to death on bus
A 16-year-old girl was stabbed to death on a bus while on her way to school in the Midlands today.
Christina Edkins was travelling through Birmingham when she was killed in a 'sporadic and quick attack'.
The teenager was pronounced dead on the number nine bus, which pulled up on Hagley Road, near the city centre.
A 22-year-old man was this afternoon arrested near Morrisons on Hagley Road.
Passengers reportedly performed CPR as they tried to save the teenager, who lived in Ladywood, Birmingham. Police officers also attempted to revive her.
Det Supt Richard Baker described her family as 'extremely distressed and distraught' and said officers were looking at a number of motives.
Headmaster at Leasowes School, in Halesowen, Neil Shaw said she was 'a bright and popular student, much loved by staff and pupils alike.'
Witnesses said the girl was stabbed by a man just as the bus pulled into the bus stop. The knifeman then ran off.
Up to 15 police cars and ambulances were at the scene early today.
Forensic experts were working on the bus and a murder investigation was launched.
West Midlands Police spokesman Lee Page said: "Police received a call from a member of the public reporting that a passenger had been attacked.
"Officers and other emergency services were immediately dispatched but it was clear that nothing could be done to save the victim."
Hagley Road remained closed this morning and was likely to remain closed for the rest of the day.
Pedestrian access was also restricted, as was access to the subways at the Five Ways island.
The closures led to heavy traffic out of the city centre.
Traffic queued up along Broad Street, while Hagley Road and Lee Bank Middleway were also affected.
A spokesman from National Express West Midlands, which runs the bus service, said eight of its bus services were affected.
Shocked passers-by took to Facebook. Darren Bent, from Birmingham, said his wife was on the bus at the time.
He said: "Can't believe some guy has stabbed and killed a schoolgirl right in front of my missus on the number nine bus on her way to work and she had to give CPR love you xxx the guy did it as bus was about to stop and ran off."
