Rushdie off ventilator, retains ‘feisty sense of humour’: Son

NEW YORK: Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie remains in critical condition, but retains his feisty sense of humour, his son Zafar Rushdie said in a statement, reports 'Variety'.

"Following the attack on Friday, my father remains in critical condition in hospital receiving extensive ongoing medical treatment. We are extremely relieved that yesterday he was taken off the ventilator and additional oxygen and he was able to say a few words," the statement said.

"Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact. We are so grateful to all the audience members who bravely leapt to his defence and administered first aid along with the police and doctors who have cared for him and for the outpouring of love and support from around the world.

"We ask for continued patience and privacy as the family comes together at his bedside to support and help him through this time," Zafar Rushdie's statement added, according to 'Variety'.

Rushdie was stabbed multiple times by a 24-year-old man named Hadi Matar moments before he was scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York on Friday morning (U.S. Eastern Time).

On Friday evening, the author's agent, Andrew Wylie, had said in a statement to the 'New York Times': "The news is not good." Wylie added "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged."