Two American women were rushed to hospital on Sunday after a woman sprayed hydrochloric acid in their faces.
Four Americans in their twenties were sitting on a bench at Saint-Charles de Marseille station when a 41-year-old woman sprayed two of them in the face with hydrochloric acid, La Provence reports.
The attack took place at shortly after 11 am local time when the four young women, who are studying at university in Paris, were in transit between Marseille and Paris.
The victims, aged 20 and 21, were taken to Timone hospital in Marseille after being treated by four firefighters and 14 other emergency service personnel at the station.
Public Prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux said that “one of the young women was sprayed in the eyes but the effects remain superficial and are not irreversible”. The health of the other vitriolage victim is not yet known, and the two other victims, who were physically unharmed, are being treated for shock.
Police state that there is no evidence that the attack was terror-related.
The perpetrator was described as “imbalanced”, and rather than running away after the attack, she showed pictures of herself with burns.
The public prosecutor’s office said the attacker “did not target anyone in particular”. She is known for “theft and robbery with violence” and for having a ” history of psychiatric care”. After being arrested, she allegedly told the police: “I was a fool.”
When interrogated by the police and placed in custody, she reportedly confessed that she was the victim of acid abuse and wanted to reproduce what she had suffered.
Acid attacks in the United Kingdom are at “epidemic levels”, according to a burns surgeon. A teenager was arrested for committing five acid attacks in 84 minutes in July, and in June two cousins suffered “life-changing” injuries after becoming victims of an acid attack in East London.
In May, Breitbart London reported that the UK had become the world’s acid attack capital, after recording the highest number of reported vitriolage attacks per person, with 1,800 assaults using corrosive liquid since 2010 in London alone, according to charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI).