Updated

A 25-year-old British man is in a coma after three men savagely beat him and left him for dead Saturday when he reportedly failed to give them a cigarette, the U.K.’s Daily Mail is reporting.

Martin Bramhall suffered serious injuries to the head when he was attacked by the men while waiting for a taxi after a night out, the Mail said.

According to his girlfriend, Mahjabeen Ansaru, Bramhall was waiting at the taxi stand when the men approached him and asked him for a cigarette. When he said no, they began violently beating him.

“He came home in a taxi and came straight to the bedroom,” Ansaru told the Mail. “He was unsteady on his feet and … the right side of his face was covered in blood. He was crying and not making any sense.”

According to the Mail’s report, doctors fear that even if Bramhall survives, he may have permanent brain damage as a result of the beating.

The attackers, who have not been caught, are said to be white men in their late teens or early 20s, the Mail said.

Click here for the full report from The Daily Mail.