Two masked intruders forced their way into a home on the Princes Highway and attacked a 29-year-old man just before 2am, police said.

A machete was used to slash the man on his back. The man ran next door to escape the attack and was further injured by running through the neighbour’s glass front door, police said.

The neighbour he ran to, seventy-six year old Bob, said the victim escaped the attack and came “running for his life”.

The victim pounded on Bob’s door with a piece of pipe, breaking the glass.

“Blood was everywhere … [he kept saying] ‘I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying,” Bob, who called police while the man was in his hallway, told the Mercury.

Bob’s elderly wife was also home at the time. There are blood drops on the stairs of his home.

The victim is being treated for multiple lacerations and a punctured lung in Wollongong Hospital.

The masked men were wearing balaclavas and each carrying machetes. They were last seen running north on the Princes Highway, police said.

Anyone with information: Crime Stoppers, 1800 333 000.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report gave the injured man’s age as 36, based on information provided by NSW Police. Police have since confirmed the man is aged 29. 

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