One of the two British teenage victims of an acid attack is escorted by a woman at the airport in Zanzibar yesterday in this still image taken from video.
ZANZIBAR: Two young British women were recovering after unknown attackers in the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar threw acid into their faces, the first such assault against foreigners in the popular tourist destination, police said yesterday.
On Wednesday evening two men on a moped threw the acid at the 18-year-old women as they strolled through the streets of Stone Town, the historical centre of the capital of the semi-autonomous Tanzanian archipelago, splashing their faces and chests.
“Police in Zanzibar have launched a manhunt, and we ask for public assistance in identifying the attackers,” deputy police commissioner Mkadam Khamis said.
The women were flown to Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam for treatment, where their wounds were said to be “not life threatening”, according to Saleh Mohammed Jidawi, a health ministry official.
Hospital workers have said the liquid thrown at the two 18-year-olds, identified as Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, may have been diluted acid. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete visited the two young women at the Aga Khan hospital, where he called the attack “shameful” and said it “tarnished the image” of Tanzania.
He ordered the security forces to step up their investigation and find the culprits.
The two women, who had just finished their school-leaving exams, were spending three weeks doing volunteer teaching in a local school, a placement organised through i-to-i Travel, a Kent, Britain-based company that organises Gap year volunteer work.
The attack came at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and as people began to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
“The motive ... has not been established. Investigations are on until we apprehend the criminals,” Khamis said.
Britain’s Foreign Office said they were “providing consular assistance” to the women, but gave no further details.
Tourism is the main foreign currency earner for Zanzibar, famed for its white-sand beaches and historical buildings in Stone Town, listed as a world heritage site by Unesco. “It may threaten tourists,” said Abdul Samad, chairman of the Zanzibar Association for Tourism Investors.
Tensions between the majority Muslim population and Christians in the archipelago—some three percent of the 1.2 million people on the islands—have been on the increase in recent years, as well as on mainland Tanzania.
In Tanzania, where Muslims and Christians each make up around a third of the population, the communities traditionally live peacefully side-by-side.
AFP
