Two Western girls, Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup (both 18), suffer serious burns after being attacked with acid as they walked into a Zanzibar restaurant Wednesday.

The Manchester-born teenagers have been working as volunteers in a Christian nursery school, which are was highly populated with international tourists. A report tells Reuters that they were attacked by men on the fateful day of the incident.

"Men riding a motorbike threw acid at two British teenage girls in Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar region, leaving them with facial, chest and back injuries, a senior police official said on Thursday," Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala writes. The British consul is now in talks with the Tanzanian authorities in hopes of finding the suspects.

While the reason remains unclear, there are a number of speculations as to why the acid attackers went for the Western girls in Zanzibar. One friend says that they may have been attacked because "they were Jewish" in the midst of the heated Islamic protests in the area. Katie was also recalled as being separately attacked for "singing during Ramadan". The two were also in a heated argument with a shop owner a few days before the acid attack.

The police however, refuses to link what happened to the current tension between the Muslims and Christians in Zansibar, describing it as "an isolated incident".

Kirstie's father, a multi-millionaire property developer and dental surgeon cannot believe his eyes upon seeing the photos of the damage of the acid on the westerners two westerners: 'The photographs I have seen are absolutely horrendous,' he shares. 'The level of the burns are beyond imagination.' 'Kirstie was inconsolable. Both girls are very shocked and very frightened," he continues. Until now, it is still unsure as to whether there will be permanent disfiguration on both of the teenagers.

Kirstie and Katie flew back home yesterday to receive further treatment.