THE full extent of the brutal stabbing of a local airman in Cyprus was revealed today.

Surgeons have told the family of Christopher Sweeney, who was today slowly recovering from the knifing, that the blade plunged into him was thrust through his entire body - missing a main artery by millimetres.

Today Christopher's mum Patricia Pollard told the BEN from Cyprus that she'd been shocked by the savagery of the attack on her son.

She said: "He is very, very lucky to be alive. The knife was long enough to go through the whole of his body and if it had cut his main artery he would have been dead within minutes."

Today Christopher, 28, was battling to recover from a five-hour operation in Larnaca General Hospital to remove part of his intestine.

But doctors have told his dad Adrian, of Fryant Close, Blackrod, that Christopher's condition is no longer life-threatening.

The RAF corporal's attacker, believed to be a Greek Cypriot, was still at large today as local detectives and British military police continued investigations.

The serviceman, who was nearing the end of a week-long stay with brother Martin and his young family in the village of Vryssoules, near Dhekelia, was walking home alone after drinking in a restaurant when he was knifed through the stomach on Thursday.

The motive for the attack is still unknown.

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