Washington | A Sikh truck driver was stabbed multiple times in a rest area's bathroom in south Wyoming, amid rising anti-South Asian rhetoric in the US.

The trucker, identified only as Singh, was stabbed early Sunday morning in Bitter Creek Rest Area in south Wyoming, where he had stopped en route to Pennsylvania, local media reported.

According to the Cowboy State Daily, Singh had to be airlifted to Wyoming Medical Centre in Casper, where he is recovering from the injuries suffered in the attack.

The Sacramento Bee reported that the attacker, identified as Andrew Kris Bzdak, stabbed the trucker 17 times in his arms, chest and rib cage. Bzdak has since been arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Attempted first-degree murder is a felony under Wyoming law, carrying the possibility of life imprisonment.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said he was horrified by the attack on the Sikh truck driver.

"This comes amid rising hatred targeting Sikh and South Asian Americans, with even the Trump Department of Homeland Security recently posting a racist caricature of a Sikh truck driver telling him to 'get off our roads' and 'self-deport or find out'," Krishnamoorthi said.

The trucker's life was saved by a Hispanic family, who happened to be at the rest area and tried to tend to his wounds and seek medical help.

Court documents accessed by the local media also reveal that a family at the rest area heard the attack, saw a man run from the building and then followed his semi-truck long enough to photograph identifying information.

The attack comes amid a significant national rise in hateful rhetoric targeting South Asians, according to Stop AAPI Hate, a group that tracks hate acts against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders