By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia 

A woman and her two-year-old daughter have sustained severe burns after being doused with acid at a market stall in southwest Cambodia, bringing to four the number of victims from such attacks this year.

Erin Bourgois - project manager of the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity - told The Anadolu Agency on Thursday that the victims - allegedly attacked in Takeo province Wednesday on the orders of a rival market vendor - had been moved from a local hospital to a specialist unit in Phnom Penh.

Bourgois said that the mother had sustained burns to around 44 percent of her body. 

“Most were on her back, but thankfully the acid wasn’t as concentrated, because if it was, they [the wounds] could have been much deeper and she couldn’t survive.”

“It sounds like there was an instigator and the two perpetrators were related to her,” she added. “There have been no arrests, but the two perpetrators have been identified, so we are hoping the police make an arrest soon.”

The family of the woman has filed a case with the police.

Bourgois said that the toddler suffered burns to her arm and face, but the acid did not get in her eyes. 

The incident was the third acid attack in Cambodia this year.

In July, a woman was doused with acid as she ate noodles at a market in the border town of Poipet in northeastern Banteay Meanchey province while a woman poured acid over her husband in the same province in April.

Last year, the charity for survivors recorded three acid attacks with a total of six survivors.

According to Bourgois, 2010 was among the worst years on record, with a peak of 20 attacks leaving 36 survivors bearing scars.

Since then, however, certain laws have been put in place to try and curb the attacks, which are commonly - but not exclusively - motivated by anger, jealousy or revenge.

“We believe the acid law, with extra penalties for perpetrators, and a sub-decree regarding the regulation of concentrated acid, has helped,” she said, referring to a law passed in 2012 and the decree the year after.

However, Bourgois said, “of the 53 cases that CASC has facilitated, only eleven have reached a final verdict.”

She stressed: “More needs to be done in regards to the implementation of the law. And enforcement of the sub decree; if people can still buy acid relatively easy, that is concerning too.”

The charity has recorded a total of 415 acid burn survivors since it began its work in 2006.

Cambodia’s National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith told AA he had not seen any report on the attack and was unaware of any arrests related to the case.

www.aa.com.tr/en