Sundström was beaten by a mob while covering the unrest in the Egyptian capital and said that he felt lucky to be alive.

“The fundamental thing is that I am alive. I was very brutally beaten and stabbed, so a little bad luck, I would have been dead. So my underlying feeling is that I am grateful to be alive.”

Bert Sundstrom said on Monday night in an interview with SVT colleagues for the first time since the attack last Thursday.

The reported remains in the care of a Cairo hospital pending his return to Sweden.

There has been speculation that Sundström was attacked by the Egyptian security forces. He was unable to shed light on that on Monday.

“It was a mob which attacked me. One or two people started it and then there were a large number.

“Then, as I understand it, left at the hospital by a group of army soldiers.”

According to Bert Sundstrom, the doctors have said that his prospects of making a full recovering are are good.

“I hope that within a few days I will be able to be transported to Sweden, because it’s obviously quite difficult to be here where everyone speaks Arabic and only a few speak a little English.”

Sundström on Monday received his first visit from SVT colleagues – photographer Richard Edholm and foreign reporter Eve Elmsäter – for which he said he was very grateful.

As soon as his condition permits, Bert Sundstrom will be flown home to Sweden.