Two British teenage girls were being treated for burns at a London hospital on Saturday after acid was hurled in their faces in the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar.
Doctors said Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both 18, were doing “well” after Wednesday’s attack, and Gee took to Twitter to thank supporters for their good wishes.
The girls, close friends who were working for three weeks as volunteer teachers on Zanzibar, were attacked by two men on a motorbike as they strolled through the historic centre, Stone Town.
The island’s authorities have offered a reward for the capture of those responsible, and police said on Friday that seven people had been questioned.
The girls’ families released a photograph of one of the victims’ injuries, showing dark burns seared across her jaw, neck and chest, without identifying her.
Trup’s father, Marc Trup, told The Times newspaper that efforts to help one of the girls after the attack had actually made her injuries worse.
One was immersed in the sea, where the salt water soothed the wounds, but the other was doused with dirty water which only made things worse, he said.
Gee’s father, Jeremy Gee, earlier described the burns as “horrendous”, telling The Daily Telegraph: “We are absolutely devastated. The level of the burns are beyond imagination.”
The girls, who are due to start university in the coming weeks, were flown to Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam for treatment, and then on to London on Friday.
In a Twitter message from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in the British capital, which has a specialist burns unit, Gee wrote: “Thank you for all your support x”.
Andy Williams, consultant burns and plastic surgeon, said on Friday that the team was still assessing the girls’ injuries.
“Both girls are well and their families are with them. They will be staying at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital,” he said.
“Both families would like to thank everyone that’s helped to bring the girls back. The families now wish to have time with the girls.”
Hospital staff in Dar es Salaam said their injuries were relatively minor and suggested the liquid thrown at them may have been diluted acid.
Zanzibar’s Tourism Minister Said Ali Mbarouk offered a reward of 10 million Tanzanian shillings ($6,200, 4,600 euros) for information leading to the arrest of the suspects, describing the attack as “a shame on the people of Zanzibar”.
Tourism is the lifeblood of the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island, which is famed for its pristine white-sand beaches.
“We have to work harder to make sure that Zanzibar is safe for visitors and citizens,” Mbarouk said.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who visited the two girls in hospital in Dar es Salaam, said the attack had “tarnished the image” of the country.