Two in police custody over Z’bar acid attack

Dar es Salaam. Two people were in police custody in Zanzibar yesterday in connection with last Wednesday’s acid attack on two British women.

However, police spokesperson Mohamed Mhina declined to give details when he spoke to The Citizen by telephone, saying the two were being questioned as part of investigations into the attack that has received wide coverage from the international media.

Police said on Friday that they were questioning five people, and Mr Mhina’s confirmation that two suspects were still in police custody means that three have been released without charge. It was not immediately clear whether the duo would appear in court today.

Miss Katie Gee and Miss Kirstie Trup, both 18, were attacked by two people, who fled on a motorcycle.

They suffered serious burns that may require surgery, according to a top British surgeon.

After seeing a picture of the injuries, Dr Mohammed Jawad, who treated model Katie Piper after she had acid thrown at her, said the two teenage volunteers would need skin grafts.

“These are deep burns. They’ll end up having surgery, no question about it,” the London-based surgeon told The Sun.

Police in Zanzibar said yesterday that they were holding two people for questioning in connection with the incident.

Miss Gee and Miss Trup were on Friday admitted to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London where they were receiving treatment for burns inflicted in Wednesday’s attack. Miss Gee and Miss Trup were admitted to the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam for two days before they were airlifted to London.

A photograph released by the teenagers’ families showed the injuries one of them suffered in the attack.

She is shown wearing an open striped shirt and a silver necklace and what appears to be acid burns are clearly visible on her chin, neck and upper chest.

One of the victim’s injuries are much worse than the other’s, it was reported, because helpers used dirty water on her burns.

Her friend was reportedly immersed in the sea in the aftermath of the attack at Stone Town, a beach resort, and the salt water helped her skin.

“That completely altered the result: the salt water and the acid,” Miss Trup’s father, Marc, said.

“The other girl panicked, ran around, made her way to a public toilet.”

“When they got to the medical centre there was no shower,” he added. “They were throwing dirty water at her.”

He said both women were struggling with the aftermath of the attack.

He added: “Each girl faces her own trauma, different, but each equally important.

“These scars, mental and physical, (are) something they both have to live with for a long time.”

British tourist Sam Jones told how he desperately tried to help one of the women as the acid burned through her skin following the attack on Wednesday night.

Mr Jones, who was on holiday on the island with his girlfriend Nadine, told The Sun how he heard their screams following the attack and found one of them crouching by a toilet block in pain.

“She just kept screaming that she needed water,” he told the newspaper.

“My girlfriend grabbed a hose and we started to wash her down as best we could.”

The couple said they supported the injured women by joining them on a private plane to Dar es Salaam for treatment.

Meanwhile, the surgeon treating Miss Gee and Miss Trup at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital said the girls were well.

Dr Andy Williams read a prepared statement from the hospital saying: “We’re still assessing their injuries. Both girls are well and their families are with them.

“They will be staying at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Both families would like to thank every one for their help to bring the girls back.”

In another development, Conservative MP Bill Cash, who sits on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tanzania, urged the Foreign Office to further upgrade its travel warning for tourists visiting both Zanzibar and Tanzania because it was “more than just an ordinary criminal event”.

The Foreign Office updated its Tanzania travel advice page on Friday with details of the attack and warns British nationals to “take care”.

Mr Cash told the Sunday Express: “People need to be extra vigilant and the Foreign Office and High Commission need to make a very thorough evaluation of the threat, as these latest attacks would seem to be on religious grounds.

“The threat to tourists going to Tanzania and Zanzibar needs to be upgraded without doubt.”