Victim of the Linz stabbing:

“I’m very lucky to be alive”

Stabbing victim Mahdi P. (24) is on the mend following emergency surgery.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/fotokerschi.at, Jürgen Pachner, Krone KREATIV)

Mahdi P. is in a room at the Linz Trauma Center following emergency surgery. The 24-year-old Afghan was the victim of a knife attack on Bismarckstraße on Saturday after he and two fellow countrymen came to the aid of an Austrian driver. He still can’t believe that his best friend was stabbed to death in the incident. 

“Mahmoud was my best friend; he was like a brother to me. I still can’t quite believe he’s dead,” says Mahdi P. on Tuesday afternoon during a visit by the “Krone” at his hospital bedside. His neck and parts of his head are heavily bandaged; his brother Mohammad (27), who traveled from Styria, and his friend Amin from Lower Austria are by his side. 

Mahmoud was my best friend; he was like a brother to me. I still can’t quite believe he’s dead.

Mahdi P.

Bild: Jürgen Pachner, Krone KREATIV

“I haven’t been able to sleep since the emergency surgery on Saturday, even though I take three to four pills every night. What happened to us keeps playing out in front of my eyes and won’t leave my mind,” says the 24-year-old gas station employee, who likely narrowly escaped death. “I had a cut from my ears down to my neck and lost a lot of blood.”

Millimeters between life and death
Surgeons at the trauma hospital stitched the deep wound back together, and P. had to be given several units of donated blood. If the cut had gone just a few millimeters further, it would have severed his larynx and he would have died. “I was very lucky to be alive,” emphasizes the Afghan man, who lives in Linz.

In 2015, he fled to Austria together with Mahmoud A. “We’ve stayed in close contact ever since.” He learned that his friend had been killed from the victim’s brother. “I saw him lying on the ground before they took me to the hospital.”

“He ran after us”
He hadn’t expected the suspect to stab them. “He ran after us, suddenly attacked us from behind with two knives—it was shocking.” He hopes that the Croatian (34) will now spend many years behind bars, and he seems concerned.

Footage shows the attacker with the knife.(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

“People like that shouldn’t be allowed out anymore,” emphasizes his brother Mohammad, who plans to take Mahdi P. to Styria after his release from the hospital to nurse him back to health. It is uncertain whether Mahdi will continue working at the gas station in Linz after his recovery: “I could imagine maybe training to become a caregiver.”

As expected, the alleged perpetrator was remanded in custody on Tuesday.