OSAKA (Kyodo) A woman reported that she feigned hyperventilation early Wednesday to survive an attack by a man threatening to kill her with a knife, police said.

The woman, in her 20s, told the police she was on her way home in Tsurumi Ward, Osaka, when the man covered her mouth with his hand and said: "Don't make a noise. I'll kill you."

She said she started breathing heavily, pretending to be suffering from hyperventilation, and squatted down. The man responded by rubbing her back to relax her.

The woman said she eventually ran away when she had the chance and did not sustain any injuries. However, she dropped her purse containing about ¥15,000.

When she returned to the scene about an hour later with police officers, her purse was gone.