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Random acid attack in London leaves woman, cousin with severe burns

Resham Khan, 21, is suffering from severe burns to her face and body after a man threw acid at her and her cousin while stopped at traffic lights in London last week.
Resham Khan, 21, is suffering from severe burns to her face and body after a man threw acid at her and her cousin while stopped at traffic lights in London last week. GoFundMe

A British woman and her cousin are recovering from severe burns to their face and body after an unprovoked acid attack on her 21st birthday in London last week.

On June 21, Resham Khan was out driving with her cousin Jameel Muhktar, 37. They were stopped at a traffic light when a man came up to them and threw sulfuric acid at them.

Muhktar was driving the car at the time and crashed it as the “acid burnt through the eyes, clothes, skin and car,” according to a GoFundMe page set up for the victims.

The two ran out of the car, stripped off their clothes and tried flagging people down, pleading for water, the page read.

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“The pain was excruciating I was struggling to close the window. My cousin struggled to get us away. I saw my clothes burn away in front of me,” Khan later explained on Twitter.

They were eventually driven to hospital by a passer-by and were transferred to a burns unit.

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The Metropolitan Police are investigating the incident but haven’t made any arrests, according to local media.

Khan, who is from Manchester, said she had come to London to celebrate her birthday and had plans to go to a spa and a restaurant with her mother.

WATCH: Video shows acid attack of Surrey business owner

She had just spent nine months studying in Cyprus and was preparing to open her own business this summer.

She had not seen her cousin in two years and said the morning of the attack they had gone for a drive “blasting music and chilling like cousins do.”

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According to the GoFundMe page, Khan is suffering from damage to her left eye, burns across her body and is in need of a skin graft.

Muhktar was put into an induced coma. He is suffering from first-degree burns across his body, has damage to his right eye and also needs a skin graft.

Khan has since tweeted for people “to be proud and happy in your own skin. You’re all beautiful; I can’t stress that enough.”

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