KUNMING, March 6 -- Fan Yanqian will never forget the "gut-wrenching" night in the intensive care unit (ICU) following Saturday's deadly terror attack in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming.

"It was shocking, and I've never seen such a scene before. It made my heart skip a beat," recalled Fan, head nurse for the ICU of Kunming's No. 1 People's Hospital.

The stabbing spree at the city's railway station, perpetrated by a group of black-clad terrorists around 9 p.m., claimed 29 innocent lives and injured 143 others.

Fan rushed to her office after receiving a phone call from the hospital, with someone exclaiming "Emergency! Move!" She has not been home since.

On Saturday night, 71 injured people were admitted to the No.1 People's Hospital, only 2.8 km from the bloody scene. Among them, 12 were declared dead upon arrival and another died later after emergency treatment failed, said a hospital source.

Along with Fan, hundreds of doctors and nurses at the hospital worked through the night, with many off-duty medical workers volunteering to help.

Now more than 20 injured people at the hospital are in stable condition, while the others remain in critical condition or under close observation.

At 1 a.m. Sunday, the ICU received its first survivor with severe injuries. The patient, who sustained a deep knife wound to the chest, is not out of danger after receiving two operations, Fan said.

The head nurse refused to recall more details about the night, but her colleague, doctor Li Chao, was ready to talk.

The injured were lying on the ground of the emergency center and some treatments were carried out there, said Li, adding that many patients suffered multiple wounds.

"We were stunned to see so many faces distorted by pain and eyes filled with panic. And I couldn't help but begin to imagine the scene of the brutal stabbing rampage," said Li, who was chief doctor on duty Saturday night.