'Help, I've been stabbed': Bystanders help bleeding man after assault in Rotorua

Police could be seen on the corner of Fenton and Sumner St. Photo / Andrew Warner

Staff and guests of a Rotorua motel are feeling shaken after tending to a man who walked in off the street saying he had been stabbed in the chest.

Police and paramedics were called to the Ace Motor Lodge on the corner of Sumner and Fenton St around midday.

A police spokeswoman confirmed a person had been stabbed. Police were called at 12.05pm.

"The person has been taken to the hospital. Police are conducting enquiries to locate the offender.

"Police are actively seeking the offender and the person does not pose any immediate threat to the public."

A St John Ambulance spokeswoman said a person was taken to Rotorua Hospital in a serious condition. Two ambulances were called to the scene at 11.49am.

A guest of the motel said he was going to his car when a man came running towards him from the street, clutching his heart.

"He said, 'help, I've been stabbed' but I didn't believe him at first because he had a hoodie on.

"But when he took it off, there was blood gushing everywhere and you could see the cut just above his heart."

Police appeared to be outside the Ace Motor Lodge. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Ace Motor Lodge owner told NZME the apparent stabbing had occurred elsewhere and the injured man had walked into the lodge to seek help.

The lodge manager tended to the bleeding man and called 111.

"There was blood everywhere, all over his jeans and the cut was very deep.

"I was shaken but I feel okay now. It was not nice to see him like that."

By 12.45pm the last police car had left.