A vicious attack outside a SkyTrain station in East Vancouver early Tuesday morning left a 56-year-old Asian woman in hospital with serious head injuries.

The woman was on her way to work at about 6 a.m. Tuesday when she was attacked by two men near the 29th Avenue Skytrain station, according to police.

Vancouver police have been ordered to 'pull out all the stops in order to capture the suspects.'
(CBC)

Witnesses told officers they saw two men struggling with her, then fleeing in a white vehicle.

Police say the woman's injuries were the result of blunt force trauma, and she underwent emergency brain surgery that lasted four hours.

She is now in intensive care at Vancouver General Hospital, with her husband and two sons at her bedside.

Her family did not find out about the attack until one of her colleagues called, saying she hadn't arrived at work.

The family then retraced her steps along her usual route to the station at 29th Avenue and Slocan Street, where they found police investigators already on the bloody scene.

"This was a cowardly attack against a 56-year-old female, and I've instructed my detectives to pull out all stops in order to capture the suspects responsible for this attack," said Vancouver police Insp. Tom McCluskie of the Major Crime Unit.

Investigators with the robbery squad and the homicide squad have also been assigned to the case, he said.

Police say they hope to get some clues about the two attackers from surveillance cameras at the SkyTrain station.

Police do not believe the attack is connected to a string of violent purse snatchings targeting Asian women at the same SkyTrain station late last year, McCluskie added, noting the suspect in those cases is behind bars.