A good samaritan has described the moment he fought to save the life of a stab victim who had collapsed in the street “covered in blood”.

Jacob Riggs, 25, was walking home from the gym when he found the young injured man sprawled across the road in Sewell Street, Plaistow.

The retail worker rushed to help the victim, understood to be in his 20s, after coming across him at about 10pm on Monday last week

“As I was walking past he called out to me saying he’d been stabbed,” Jacob explained.

“I went over to him and asked him about where it was that he had been injured and he just replied ‘everywhere’.”

Jacob, who lives nearby in Plaistow, explained the victim had suffered multiple injuries to his left arm, chest and back.

Police confirmed a man in his 20s was found with “stab-wounds” and was taken to hospital.

“It was quite a horrible ordeal. I have never seen anything like that. He was covered in blood,” said Jacob.

“From what I remember he had sliced wounds on his arm and he had been stabbed near his chest. I called the emergency services and just stayed with him until they arrived.”

Jacob said he used his hands to press down on the victim’s wounds to help stop the bleeding, adding: “There was just so much blood and I had to do something to try and stop it so I just used my hands to press down, but I just couldn’t stop it.

“There were also a lot of people just standing around, I don’t know if they saw me and thought I knew what I was doing, but it was difficult.”

He added: “I just hope he is recovering and doing better. It looked very serious at the time.”

The victim is now in a stable condition, police confirmed.

Officers have arrested two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, in connection with the incident. Both have been released on police bail.

Enquiries continue. Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously at 0800 555 111.