A HEAVILY pregnant Chinese takeaway worker was attacked by a man who forced his way behind the counter.

Zhou Wang Yun, 26, was serving at the Sea Breeze fish bar, Moscow Mill Street, Oswaldtwistle, which she runs with her husband, Hin Soi Kay, 44, when a man came in on Monday night.

He went behind the counter and punched her in the face and pushed her to the floor.

Mr Kay had been mopping the floor and went for the offender with his mop, forcing him to flee. He said: "My wife is eight months pregnant with our first child. She was on the floor holding her stomach to protect the baby."

His wife was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary by ambulance for treatment and later allowed home.

Det Sgt Ian Geogarty, of Accrington CID, said: "It was a unprovoked, quite vicious assault on a defenceless, pregnant woman.

"The offender has entered the takeaway and gone behind the counter to attack her.

"Fortunately she has only suffered very minor injuries, but she was very badly shaken."

He added that there was no suggestion that robbery was the motive for the assault.

The man who carried out the attack is of ethnic origin, in his mid-20s, 5ft 8ins, of athletic build, with dark hair that is short at the back and sides and longer on top.

He was wearing a dark bomber-style jacket, a red T-shirt, with a white logo on it, jeans and white trainers.

Police are also appealing for an Afro-Caribbean man who was in the takeaway and went to help the victim to come forward.

He is aged between 38 and 42, 5ft 10ins to 6ft tall and of medium build. He was wearing a brown bomber-style jacket, dark blue tracksuit bottoms, with a light blue stripe, and either a green or grey baseball cap.

Anyone with information about the attack, which happened just after 11pm, should contact Accrington CID on 01254 353741 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.