Zanzibar Acid Attack Teens Back In UK

Two girls from London who had acid hurled in their faces on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar have arrived back in Britain.

A plane carrying Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both 18, landed at RAF Northolt at lunchtime and the pair were taken away in two ambulances.

They will now be transferred to a specialist burns unit and reunited with their families.

The teenagers were attacked by two men on a motorbike as they walked through the historic capital Stone Town on Wednesday night.

An ambulance meets the plane carrying the teenagers

The acid was splashed over their faces, chests, backs and hands.

Their arrival back in Britain came as a Zanzibar police chief told Sky News that five people have been questioned over the acid attack.

Regional police commander Mkadam Khamis said two of the suspects are being detained for further interrogation while the other three have been released.

Sky News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Lisa Holland said there were some suggestions that one of the people held was a local shopkeeper who had been in an altercation with one of the girls a few days before.

The terrified girls were taken to hospital on the mainland

But she added that the motive remained unclear - with other reports of eyewitnesses saying the acid was not intended for the British teenagers but someone else walking down the road. 

The pair, who had been volunteering at an orphanage on the island, were taken to hospital in Dar es Salaam on the Tanzanian mainland, before being flown home.

Miss Gee's mother Nicky Gee told Sky News her daughter had suffered burns to her "whole face and her whole body" in the "vicious attack".

Miss Trup also reportedly received horrific burns and was said to be "inconsolable".   

Katie Gee's mother, Nicky, told Sky News her daughter was badly burned

The young women, who are from north London and were planning to start university in the autumn, were enjoying the last week of a trip as volunteer teachers to the predominantly Muslim island when a corrosive substance was thrown at them.

The trip had been organised by i-to-i Travel, which is based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and runs gap year trips to parts of Africa, Asia, central and South America and Australia.

Trips to teach in Zanzibar, based in Stone Town, start at £669 for two weeks, according to its website.

In a statement, i-to-i Travel said the pair were released from a hospital in the country's capital, Dar es Salaam, where they had been flown for medical treatment after the "acid attack".

One of the girls is escorted at the airport in Zanzibar

"All our efforts remain focused on ensuring they are supported whilst assisting them and their relatives with the arrangements for their return home," it said.

The Foreign Office travel advice for Tanzania warns that although most visits to the country are trouble-free, "violent and armed crime is increasing".

The advice, available on its website, says: "Mugging, bag snatching (especially from passing cars) and robbery have increased throughout the country."

It adds: "In Zanzibar, incidents have taken place in Stone Town and on popular tourist beaches."

The family home of Kirstie Trup in north London

Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania's president, is reported to have visited the women at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam and promised that the men responsible for the "shameful" attack would be found.

Zanzibar is an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean around 22 miles off the mainland.

The semi-autonomous region of Tanzania is predominantly Muslim and has been the scene of some religious violence in recent years.

Earlier this year two Christian leaders were killed and in November a cleric was treated in hospital after an acid attack. This is thought to be the first attack on tourists.

A further announcement from the police in Zanzibar regarding the case is expected later today.

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