By Aditi KhannaLondon, Nov 25 (PTI) Two men today handed themselves into police probing an "altercation" between a duo which isbelieved to have sparked a "mass evacuation" and left 16people injured in the busy Oxford Circus area of London.
Sixteen people were injured, one with serious leginjuries, in the chaos in central London yesterday, officialssaid.
The two men, aged 21 and 40, turned themselves in afterthe Scotland Yard released CCTV images of the people wantedfor questioning in the episode.
The incident caused widespread panic as people rushed outof the Oxford Circus underground train station as rumours ofgunshots being fired spread.
"I would like to thank the public and the media forassisting us with this witness appeal," said British TransportPolice (BTP) chief superintendent Martin Fry as he confirmedthat two men had attended a police station "voluntarily" andhave been questioned as part of their ongoing investigation.
The police force said it believed an altercation haderupted between two men on a platform at Oxford Circus Tubestation, which had resulted in the scenes of mass panic amongthe public.
The Metropolitan Police along with BTP officers hadrushed to the scene after numerous emergency calls to the 999number from members of the public, many of whom reportedhearing gunshots.
People were told to seek refuge in nearby buildings andshoppers were barricaded inside stores on Oxford Street asarmed police officers were deployed.
"Given the nature of the information received, the Metresponded in line with our existing operation as if theincident was terrorism, including the deployment of armedofficers," the Met Police said.
Following a thorough search of the area, the policereported no casualties, evidence of any shots fired or anysuspects.
The heightened armed presence was "stood down" within acouple of hours and the panic subsided for the area to returnto its busy Black Friday sales activity.
Social media has been widely blamed for the panic, whichcaused a stampede that resulted in most of the injuries.
The UK has seen four serious terrorist attacks this year,with three of them across parts of London –- the Parliament,London Bridge and Finsbury Park –- and the fourth inManchester.
Britain's terror threat level is set at severe, whichmeans an attack in highly likely, and security forces aretrained to treat any reports of feared attacks as terroristincidents.
The incident last evening was instantly trending onsocial media, with British pop singer Olly Murs taking toTwitter to claim a shooting at London's famous Selfridgesstore on Oxford Street.
He tweeted for everyone to "get out of @Selfridges nowgun shots!!" The 33-year-old, who has 7.8 million Twitterfollowers, has since defended his decision to tweet inaccurateinformation which led to mass panic. PTI AK KISKIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.