Attacker smiles, then splashes acid on girls

Attacker smiles, then splashes acid on girls

Two British teenagers had acid hurled at them in Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar region, leaving them with facial, chest and back injuries.

Charity volunteers Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both 18, suffered severe burns when they were targeted by two men on a moped on Aug 7, reported UK's The Mirror.

Miss Trup said that passers-by, including a soldier, ignored their pleas for help as they writhed in agony on the roadside after the unprovoked attack. She described the moment as their "flesh being seared".

She recounted how the passenger on the moped smiled before hurling car battery acid at them as they walked to a restaurant.

Miss Trup, who had noticed the men going slowly alongside them, said: "I was about to ask them, 'Is everything OK?'. But before I could utter a word the driver nodded.

The passenger smiled then pulled up a jerry can from his right side, which until that point remained out of view.

Flesh seared

"He violently swung it in our direction, dousing Katie and me with what we thought was water, but would later discover was car battery acid."

"We felt our flesh being seared. Our screams were so loud they could be heard at a hotel several minutes' walk away," she said.

Miss Gee ran off while continuing to remove her clothes, while Miss Trup fell to the ground yelling and scratching at her face in pain.

A passer-by then threw water over her before three men lifted her to her feet and rushed her towards the sea.

The two, who were targeted in the Muslim island's capital Zanzibar City in the holy month of Ramadan, were then taken to hospital in a taxi. Days later, they were flown back to Britain for more treatment to their horrific wounds.

Miss Gee had burns to 80 per cent of her body and 30 per cent of her face. Miss Trup has been discharged but will need a skin graft.


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