A toddler and her mother have suffered potentially life-changing injuries after an alkaline substance was thrown at them in an attack in London which saw 11 people taken to hospital.
Police in the British capital said the 31-year-old woman and her three-year-old daughter, alongside her other daughter, aged eight, remain in hospital following the incident on Wednesday.
A manhunt is now underway for the suspect, who is believed to be known to the mother, after he also allegedly threw the younger child to the ground in the attack in Lessar Avenue, near Clapham Common, at about 7.25pm.
Police said in his attempt to drive away from the scene, the attacker crashed into a stationary vehicle and made off on foot.
Three members of the public who came to the aid of the family have all been discharged from hospital with minor burns injuries.
The force said five officers who responded to the incident have also been treated and have now left hospital.
One witness to the attack, bus driver Shannon Christi, told the PA news agency she was affected by the substance while trying to help the woman and two children outside her home.
She said: “I heard a bang and I heard someone saying ‘help’.
“I run outside and as I run outside I’ve seen this guy throwing a child on the floor, he picked her up and threw her again.
“So, at that point I ran in and I grabbed her and took her into my block.”
She added: “At that point my skin started tingling as well, and my face started tingling.”
Ms Christi said staff took the toddler into the Clapham South Belvedere Hotel before going to wash her own arms and face.
She continued: “I’ve done that but my lips were still tingling, kept burning, kept tingling, so I sat in the ambulance for a bit and then they took me to hospital.
“It all happened so fast.”
