Man slashed in knife attack in New Territories village, Hong Kong police search for suspects
- Victim, 56, calls police before passing out in outdoor car park
- Wounding cases down 26.5 per cent from same period last year
Hong Kong police are searching for at least two assailants after a 56-year-old vegetable wholesaler was left in critical condition by a knife attack in a New Territories village in the early hours of Monday.
Emergency personnel were called after the merchant was attacked at an outdoor car park in Ma Wat Tsuen off Sui Wan Road in Fanling shortly after 1.30am. The man suffered cut wounds to his torso and limbs.
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According to the force, the victim called police and later passed out. He was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin for treatment.
“The motive behind the attack is unknown. After the attack, the two [male] suspects fled in a car,” police said.
Officers mounted a search in the area, but no arrests were made.
A police source said that at the time of the attack, the wholesaler was cycling from his home to his shop in a temporary wholesale market in the area.
“He cycled to work daily and passed the site [he was attacked]. We believe it was an ambush because the perpetrators apparently knew his route,” he said.
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He said the motive behind the attack remained unknown because the victim was unfit to be interviewed, adding that the victim was not in a life-and-death situation.
The source said the attack was apparently a “warning” rather than an attempt to kill the victim, because the assailants mainly targeted his limbs in the attack.
A Hospital Authority spokeswoman said the 56-year-old was in a critical condition at the Prince of Wales Hospital as of Monday afternoon.
Police have classified the case as wounding. Detectives from the Tai Po criminal investigation unit are handling it.
In the first three months of this year, police handled 139 reports of wounding across the city, down 26.5 per cent from 189 in the same period last year.
