A night out ended in horrific injury when a young man was stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle near Southend seafront.

Police are now hunting a group of youths who attacked the 19-year-old victim - with no apparent motive -- and left him fighting for his life.

Detectives hope witnesses who were in the busy seafront area at the time will come forward to shed more light on the attack.

Det Con Andy Marbrow of Southend CID, said: "He was attacked by five or six youths in Southchurch Avenue, just up from the seafront.

"One of these youths stabbed him in the neck with a broken bottle. He was seriously wounded and lost a lot of blood."

He added: "This group could have been people who knew him or knew of him or they could have just decided to pick on him at random."

The victim was rushed to hospital where surgery was performed on his wounds.

He was then kept in hospital for a further two days.

Mr Marbrow said: "This was a cowardly attack with five or six people ganging up onto one and it seems motiveless.

"Stabbing someone in neck like that could easily have had even more serious consequences.

"We are appealing for witnesses.

"There must have been an awful lot of people driving about at the time as there usually are in that area."

Members of the group involved in the attack were white and aged around 19.

Some of the group were wearing baseball caps.

Details of the attack, which took place around 12.15am on Sunday, August 6, have only just been released by police.

Any witnesses should contact Southend CID on 01702 431212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

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