A tenement was left looking like a “bloodbath” after a frenzied knife attack on a couple in their home.
Two men burst into the flat before repeatedly stabbing the 37-year-old woman and 52-year-old man in a “horrendous and horrific” targeted attack.
As the couple were in a critical condition in hospital yesterday, workmen jetwashed steps at the red sandstone tenement in Belville Street, Greenock.
Earlier, the street was sealed off as police gathered evidence.
A resident, who did not want to be named, said: “This place is getting wild.
“I saw loads of police and the road was totally blocked off for a while. Later on, maintenance men were in cleaning the steps and outside stairs.
“It must have been like a bloodbath.”
Police said they were following a positive line of inquiry as they hunted the two attackers who carried out the stabbings at about 8.45pm on Tuesday.
Officers said the murder bid was not linked to another in June, when a 37-year-old man and 43-year-old woman were ambushed by a gang.
Two men, aged 31 and 36, were later arrested in connection with the attempted murder of the woman and the serious assault of the man.
Police also ruled out a link with a brutal murder in Greenock in September, when in the living room of his home in Maple Road in front of his young son and daughter.
Detective Inspector David Wagstaff, of Greenock CID, described the latest attack as “horrendous and horrific”.
He said: “This is a despicable, targeted attack on two people. They sustained knife injuries to their bodies.”
He said the victims were both being treated in a high dependency unit in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and their condition was “critical but stable”.
Wagstaff added: “The suspects arrived in a silver-coloured taxi and left in the same taxi.
“They then got out of the taxi in Kilmacolm Road, near to Blairmore Road. They were last spotted walking along Kilmacolm Road, going in the direction of Burnhead Street.”
Both suspects were wearing dark clothing and one had a baseball cap on.
Wagstaff added: “We are following positive lines of inquiry. Anyone who witnessed any suspicious behaviour on Belville Street on Tuesday night, or who may have private CCTV covering the area, is asked to come forward.
“We have a number of additional police patrols in the area. If you have any information or concerns, please speak to one of these officers.”
