I was doused in acid in a random attack in Zanzibar – tourists took pictures of me while I was screaming for help

An acid attack survivor has revealed how tourists took photos of her as she tried to wash the acid off her face and screamed for help.

Katie Gee, 29, from London, was just 18 in 2013 and was volunteering at a school in Zanzibar when she and her friend Kirstie Trup were doused in acid in a random, unprovoked attack by two men on a moped.

The right side of Katie’s face and body were burned, while her right ear was shrivelled. In the first five years after the attack, Katie underwent 70 surgeries – many of them grueling 12-hour skin grafts – and in 2018, she was fitted with a new right ear.

Katie, now 29, went TikTok to discuss the attack, and the ordeal that followed to get her back to the UK.

In a video shared on the platform, Katie said: ‘I was on my way to dinner [when] ‘Two men drove past, threw acid on my right side and immediately drove away.’

‘I was left with 35 percent burns and was in and out of hospital for years.’

Katie recounts the moments after the attack: ‘I ran straight to the toilet, screamed and asked for help. Then a couple, Nadine and Sam, came to help me. They brought lots of bottles of water.

‘Many locals and tourists [were] were watching me outside the bathroom and some of them were taking pictures and stuff, so Nadine protected me.

‘After[…]wash myself [for a while] We take a shower and go to the first hospital.

‘This hospital in Stone Town was honestly a complete shitshow, [with] there are hardly any staff working.

‘There, I immerse myself in saline solution, which is disinfectant salt water, [we] then there is no more saline solution and there is no running water.

“The next step is to get running water immediately. The best hospital is in Dara Salam, on the Tanzanian mainland. The only way to get there is by plane.

“We went straight to a hotel that was nearby, and I ended up using their shower by the pool. I stood under those freezing cold showers for a couple of hours.”

She continued: ‘I clearly had no clothes on because everything was burnt. I was shaking uncontrollably and everyone was saying, ‘She has to come inside.’ After a lot of coordination, we headed to the main hospital in Dara Salam.

‘We take an ambulance, we go straight to the runway and we get on the plane. As we land in Dara Salam, I throw up projectiles on the runway.

“I’ll spare you the rest of the details, but honestly it was just a show.”

Katie spoke about her experiences in the second hospital: ‘It was much quieter, [and] I was given lots of painkillers and through the insurance we were told we could get a medical plane back to the UK.

‘I [get] straight into an ambulance. In the medical plane there are two doctors with me, and as soon as we get in I say to them: ‘Please give me medicine and sedate me, I don’t want to be awake during this journey’.

‘We went straight to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in an ambulance, with my mother and whoever was on the tarmac, where I was admitted.’

For the first three years after the attack, Katie had to wear a plastic face mask and full compression suit for 23 hours a day.

In 2018, she received a new right ear, made from tissue from one of her ribs.

Her attackers, who used acid from a car battery, have never been identified.

‘For the first few years I barely went out,’ Katie previously told the Mail on Sunday. ‘I had no confidence. People would stare at me and you felt ugly and different, like a spectacle. I’ve come such a long way.’

Katie, who describes herself as a ‘survivor and a go-getter’, graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2017.

But the year after the attack was the hardest for her. She said: ‘The scars are pulling together. Then the scars are really red and bumpy. I had to keep the face mask on all day.

In 2015, Katie finally had her ear reconstructed, using cartilage from her ribs and skin from her scalp.

She said, “I’ve had a lot of operations. I’ve had a new eyelid. I haven’t had an ear for over three years. [The reconstruction] It made me feel normal. I felt more like myself.’

For the first few years after the attack, she felt “uncomfortable” with her new appearance, but now she has found “confidence” in her scars.

Katie, who has a background in real estate, said: ‘I remember going out for dinner and bumping into a friend’s sister and she didn’t recognise me.

‘If someone wants to stare now, I just stare back and make them feel uncomfortable.

She added: ‘I have no shame anymore. I’m in a good place. I’m showing that I’m confident in my scars.’

The perpetrator, who “laughed” before throwing Katie underwater, has never been caught for the attack in the capital Stone Town.

Katie said, “It’s still something I think about every day. Every time I look in the mirror, I see it. It’s still something that affects me all the time.”

The 29-year-old is now sharing her story on TikTok to help others feel confident about their bodies and share her tips, such as the best makeup for scars.

She said, “I want to be a positive person who is confident about her scars.”

It took Katie a while to gain the confidence to start dating again, but she is now in a relationship with Michael, 29.

She said: ‘It took me a while to realise that people still like me. ‘He’s really nice and sweet. ‘He compliments me all the time – even when I look awful.’

Viewers took to the comments section of Katie’s video. One said: ‘God bless Nadine and Sam. I’m so sorry this is what you’ve been through. The world can be so cruel.’

“God bless Nadine and Sam. Really. I’m so sorry this happened to you. Unbelievable,” wrote a second.

Another added: ‘Poor darling. What horrible creatures this world harbours. You are beautiful, then and now.’

A fourth said: ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you. What a horrible thing. You are so beautiful and so strong.’