Police are appealing for witnesses in connection with a serious attack on two fishermen who were asleep in their tent next to a canal in Hilvarenbeek in Noord-Brabant at the weekend.

The two men, who had been fishing at night, told police they had been attacked by two men and two women, one of whom cut them with a broken bottle. Their injuries were serious enough to require the services of two ambulances and a trauma helicopter.

Witnesses said they saw the suspects, who spoke Dutch, and were aged between 18 and 22, make off in a small white boat with an outboard motor in the direction of Tilburg.

Fishing organisations Visserij Nederland said the incident was ‘crazy’ and unprecedented in the world of recreational fishing.