Bangkok "acid" attack
A rather disturbing story in the Bangkok Post today: American artist Elizabeth Briel and her English husband reportedly had acid thrown over them while they were walking near the Asoke BTS stop. It appears to be a random attack.
A foreign woman artist, Elizabeth Briel, reported on Twitter on Friday that she and her husband had acid sprayed at their faces at the Asoke skytrain station last night [September 15].
She said the acid was directed at them from the stairway leading to the station near Robinson shopping mall.
Mrs Briel said her husband's eyes were damaged but would be okay, while she has a burnt scalp.
They were treated at Bumrungrad hospital.
The hospital said this is the third case they have seen lately.
Elizabeth has given a horrifying account of what happened on her blog:
Do you know how it feels to watch a loved one's eyes melt? Not metaphorically. But to watch them disintegrate. As our taxi driver kept up a bilingual patter about the fastest route to the hospital, Roy's eyes began to shed their outer membrane like jelly. It hung there like frozen tears.
"Don't rub your eyes!" I warned, but of course (he's the scientist), he knew exactly what was happening.
"It's acid or industrial cleaning fluid that caused the burns," the doctor said. "He's lost some of the conjunctiva in both eyes, but he's retained his vision. Come back tomorrow morning and see the opthamologist." He told Roy this is the third attack of this kind recently. Did the other two involve foreigners? We didn't ask. We don't really want to know.
Little else is known about the attack so its difficult to make any real judgment about this incident. Was it random? Were they targeted because they are foreign? What kind of liquid was actually used? No word yet on whether the police are going to open an investigation.
I don't recall reading a great deal about people being attacked with acid in Thailand, but in Bangladesh I saw how devastating these types of attacks can be. Perhaps reader can shed light on whether there have been similar cases to this over the years, particularly involving foreigners.
Addendum: Here's an entry that claims there is a trend of attacking women in Thailand with acid:
There is a disturbing trend that is happening in the land of Thailand. The newest form of retaliation that Thai men are using towards their ex-lovers is throwing acid onto their faces.
If you thought that your justice system was bad, then check out the judges in Thailand. In the attached video at this link, it follows the lives of two Thai women that survived acid attacks to the face.
The first lady in the video is named Jack. Her ex-husband threw acid on her face in a jealous fit of rage. She is now 100% blind and her face will be deformed for the rest of her life.
Addendum 2: Elizabeth added this on her Twitter account:
Update: My skin was irritated but I didn't get any in my eyes. After research&speaking w/opthamologist, we suspect it was alkaline not acid.
