A public worker was stabbed and seriously wounded by a man during a quarrel Monday morning at a train station in Konan Ward, Yokohama, police said.

The man who stabbed Masahiro Takizawa, 33, an employee of the municipal government of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, fled the scene, according to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police's Konan branch.

Takizawa was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. Before losing consciousness, he indicated to a station official he did not know the assailant.

The incident took place at around 6 a.m. near the ticket gates at Kamiooka Station on the Keihin Kyuko Line.

Takizawa, who lives in Yokohama, was on his way to work when he and the assailant quarreled.

The man stabbed Takizawa in the right abdomen with a kitchen knife, according to police.

Takizawa was inside the gates and the assailant was outside when they engaged in the quarrel. Takizawa collapsed on the floor with the knife stuck in his abdomen and asked a station worker to call police.

The station worker urged the perpetrator to come along to a nearby police station, but the man ran away, according to police.

Investigators are now hunting for the man, treating the case as attempted murder.

When the worker asked Takizawa whether he knew the man, the victim shook his head, police said.

The attacker had a crew cut and was about 175 cm tall, and appeared to be 35 to 45 years old.

He was wearing a blue shirt and short, loose trousers.