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Two teenage London girls who had acid hurled in their faces on the Indian Ocean holiday island of Zanzibar were said to be being flown home to their families tonight.

Friends Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both 18, were attacked by two men on a motorcycle as they walked through Stone Town, the historic capital of the popular tourist destination off the east coast of Africa.

The victims, who were doing charity work, ran into the sea in a desperate attempt to wash the acid off their skin.

They were helped by passers-by and then airlifted to hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, after the assault. Police have launched a manhunt for the attackers.

Miss Gee, of East Finchley, a former pupil at the prestigious Regent’s Park Francis Holland School, and Miss Trup, from Hampstead, were both volunteers with the charity Art in Tanzania and were teaching at a school. They arrived in the country two weeks ago and were due to leave next Saturday.

Travel company i-to-i Travel, which organised their visit, said this afternoon it would be repatriating them both tonight.

Based in Tunbridge Wells, i-to-i Travel 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: "All our efforts remain focused on ensuring they are supported whilst assisting them and their relatives with the arrangements for their return home."

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

Police said the pair were walking in Stone Town at about 7pm yesterday when the acid was thrown in their faces. It burned their chests and hands as they tried to wash it off.

In a statement outside the Trup home, a family friend said on behalf of the girls' mothers, Rochelle Trup and Nicky Gee: "Both families are extremely upset and distressed at this completely unprovoked attack on their lovely daughters, who had only gone to Zanzibar with good intentions.

"We understand that they will be flying home overnight.

"We appreciate all the interest and support we have received from the media but we would ask that we are left alone until we have been reunited with our daughters."

Earlier Nicky Gee said: “I have spoken to my daughter, but I can’t get them home yet. Her face and her body is burned. All over her front and her whole body. They were dressed appropriately. They just attacked two young girls.”

The girls are, luckily, believed to have escaped serious disfigurement, Zanzibar’s assistant commissioner of police Mkadam Khamis Mkadam said.

He went on: “The girls were accosted by two men on a motorcycle. The men poured this liquid and ran away. The girls managed to get first aid very fast and were taken to hospital for further treatment.”

He said the girls were assessed again by doctors this morning and could have further treatement in Britain, adding: “We don’t know the motive of this attack. Normally these guys on motorbikes grab cameras and bags but this is new. It is worrying.”

A source close to the two friends told the Standard the girls were feeling “much better” today.

The source said: “They are feeling much better than yesterday. They are talking and eating which is a good thing. They were just walking along and these guys came out of nowhere and threw this stuff in their faces. They do not know why, they are just confused.

“Physically they are fine, but this was obviously very scary for them.

“They went straight into the sea. Some people saw them and came to give first aid. Someone then took them to give them a shower and get medical help.”

A doctor at the Aga Khan Hospital treating the teenagers added: “Considering it could have been very bad, what they have is quite mild.”

It is the second attack Miss Gee has suffered since being in Zanzibar. On July 24 she revealed she was hit by a woman for singing during Ramadan. She tweeted: “A Muslim woman just hit me in the street for singing on Ramadan. Is that normal.”

Friend Oli Cohen, 21, said: “She was shocked as it just came from out of the blue - but she wasn’t scared enough to come home she stayed out there to finish her trip and volunteering.

“Both are very nice girls who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Representatives of Art in Tanzania were today at the hospital to offer help to the girls, who were also being interviewed by Foreign Office officials and again by police. The Foreign Office said: “We are providing consular assistance.”

The attack on the mainly Islamic island came at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as people began to celebrate the Eid holiday.

The victims’ parents were today at the Trup family home anxiously awaiting news.

Ms Trup’s parents Marc, 51, a property developer and Rochelle, 49, today declined to comment on the attack, but a family spokesman said: “The girls weren’t doing anything wrong. They knew it was Ramadan and were appropriately dressed. They were fully covered and had long sleeves on.

“They’d killed themselves working hard for their A-levels. Afterwards they didn’t choose to go to Ibiza or Magaluf but instead chose Zanzibar to help people. We checked it was safe but it seems there was some unrest there.”

Miss Gee is due to study sociology at Nottingham University next month, with Miss Trup hoping to read history at Bristol University.

The assault is the first of this kind on foreigners there, though there have been a series of attacks in the archipelago, mainly for religious reasons.

Idyllic island popular with travellers

An idyllic island setting in the Indian Ocean with unspoilt beaches and clear blue waters, it is easy to see why Zanzibar has become such a popular tourist destination.

The archipelago’s stunning scenery is matched by a fascinating history. Lying off the coast of East Africa, Zanzibar has been an international crossroads for centuries and played a vital role in both the spice and slave trades.

Britain abolished the slave trade and declared Zanzibar a protectorate in 1890 ending the rule of Omani sultans.

In 1963 the islands gained independence and under the rule of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party (CCM) has maintained a semi-autonomous political union with Tanzania on the mainland.

The islands have been seen rapid development in the past two decades to accommodate a tourism boom with developers keen to make Zanzibar into another Seychelles.

However all is not well in paradise. There have been a series of disputed elections with allegations of electoral fraud from the rival Civic United Front (CUF), which wants independence from Tanzania.

In recent years the Muslim-majority islands have seen the rise of the Islamist party Uamsho (The Awakening) leading to violent clashes with the authorities. There have also been a number of politically-motivated acid attacks.

While tourism is Zanzibar’s biggest industry, and the islands are a popular stopping point for gap-year students, many locals have yet to see the benefits with huge unemployment, a heroin epidemic and widespread poverty.

Rashid Razaq