Tourist tells of stab shock

THE BRAZILIAN tourist stabbed in the back at Columbus Circle by a homeless man said he was still trying to cope Monday with the sudden, unprovoked attack.

Marcus Machado, 23, was recuperating in an East Side hospital after his attacker stabbed him as he stood with his luggage in front of Trump International Hotel on Central Park West (photo) about 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I’m so nervous and sad with this accident,” said Machado, who was snapping photos when the man plunged a knife into him. “I was only a few hours in the United States.”

Machado, speaking from his bed at New YorkPresbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, said he needed surgery and didn’t know when he would be able to leave for a planned trip to Rome.

“I have to go through a little surgery,” he said. “I have many other things to do for my master’s in law in Europe. And I’m in this hospital without a date to go home.”

Police said they are still looking for the attacker, who witnesses said appeared to be homeless.