NITIN Garg staggered into Hungry Jack's, his torso sliced open by a massive knife wound, knowing he was going to die.

As he pleaded with co-workers at the fast-food outlet to help him, his lips turned blue. He passed out and died later in hospital.

The 21-year-old Indian had studied accountancy in Australia and had plenty to look forward to before he was attacked as he walked through Cruickshank Park, in Melbourne's west, on his way to work on Saturday night.

His housemates, Sandeep Sandeep and Parminder Singh, raced to the Royal Melbourne Hospital but they did not see him alive again.

Mr Sandeep said the eight Indians living together in a house in Newport were like family and Mr Garg was like a brother to him. He made a heartbreaking call to his friend's brother in India to tell him of the stabbing. ''He just would not believe me when I told [him] Nitin was no more and asked to speak to the doctor.''

The Australian Government says it will try to return Mr Garg's body to his family as ‘‘expeditiously’’ as possible.

Police are reluctant to draw a racial link to the murder, even though Mr Garg was not robbed and his belongings were left scattered the park where he was murdered.

Authorities have called for calm, saying there’s no evidence at this stage that the attack was racially motivated.

‘‘I think we have to await the full details of the police investigation,’’ Acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean told ABC radio, when asked if it was a racially motivated stabbing.

‘‘We are going to try and co-operate with the family as expeditiously if we can to return the remains, the body, to his home.’’

Asked why it took until yesterday afternoon for government officials to contact Mr Garg’s family in India given the increased sensitivity over the safety of Indian students, Mr Crean said: ‘‘I think it’s unfortunate if it did take that length of time’’.

But Mr Crean did say the Government had been in regular contact with Indian officials over the past 12 months in relation to Indian students’ safety in Australia.

Since Mr Garg’s death, Australia’s high commissioner in Delhi had also been in touch with the family.

‘‘I understand there’ve been meetings the high commissioner has sought here with the Department of Foreign Affairs officials. We will do whatever we can to try and address this problem,’’ Mr Crean said.

Mr Singh, who was close to the Punjab native, could accept, for the moment, that there was little evidence to suggest a racial attack, but wondered at the level of knife violence in Melbourne, having also seen the agony of a non-Indian victim, who was stabbed on the same night his friend died.

''There was a guy in the hospital at the same time, who had been stabbed six times and he was not an Indian,'' Mr Singh said. ''It's not just about an Indian losing his life, this is happening to everyone - where is it safe any more?''

The 44-year-old man, who was stabbed six times, had just celebrated his birthday in Fitzroy when he was attacked as he returned to his car with his wife on Saturday night.

The number of knife casualties grows daily. A 23-year-old Wyndham Vale man was yesterday charged with the attempted murder of a Hoppers Crossing man in another stabbing.

Mr Sandeep and Mr Singh consoled each other in their home as police talked of a crackdown on knife culture.

''He fell into the arms of one of his colleagues and said, 'Please help me, I'm dying', then he went blue and passed out,'' Mr Singh said.

''We were like family, we took care of each other,'' Mr Sandeep said.

The two friends are struggling to accept that Mr Garg is gone and that his chest had been cut open in the attack.

''The doctor said it was a long wound from abdomen to the heart,'' Mr Singh said.

Added Mr Sandeep: ''Whoever did this knows how to kill.''

Police will test their new search powers near the Footscray railway station on Thursday in a bid to curb knife crime. That is unlikely to ease concerns among parents in India about sending their children to Melbourne.

Mr Singh and Mr Sandeep said two students staying with them in Newport had spoken to their families and they wanted them to return to India. More are likely to follow.

''[Nitin Garg] spent $40,000 studying and what did he get for it? He got knifed,'' Mr Sandeep said.