KEY POINTS:
Detectives are today hoping to talk to an Auckland taxi driver who drove himself to safety after being stabbed several times by a passenger.
The 23-year-old taxi driver was stabbed repeatedly by a man he picked up outside the Sebel Hotel on the Viaduct and drove to Bertrand Rd, Mt Wellington.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Cramer told the Herald the victim, a Russian man, had been stabbed multiple times in the abdomen and upper body during the attack about 11.30pm on Friday. "It was a particularly nasty assault - quite vicious," Mr Cramer said. "This man is very, very lucky to be alive."
Mr Cramer praised the man, who was bleeding profusely, but drove himself to a nearby Mobil service station where an ambulance was called.
The man - who was initially critically ill and fighting for his life in Auckland City Hospital - had improved to a stable condition but was still too unwell for police to talk to yesterday.
He had undergone surgery during the weekend and was having another operation yesterday.
Police are hoping the man knows much of the crucial information on the attack, including why the passenger stabbed him.
Mr Cramer said the attacker fled on foot, running along Bertrand Rd, where police were yesterday searching for the knife. Officers were also undertaking the "huge job" of retrieving surveillance footage of the viaduct and Mr Cramer said he was confident that would provide some leads.
The offender is described as a brown-skinned male, about 180cm tall, of solid to athletic build and wearing a grey or sandy coloured hoodie.
Anyone with information is asked to call the freephone number 0508 OP GLADE (0800 67 45233).
