BOSTON (AP/WHDH) — The four female U.S. tourists who authorities say were attacked with acid at a train station in France have all been identified as Boston College students who are studying abroad.
The university said in a statement the students were treated for burns at a hospital in Marseille, France, after they were attacked by a 41-year-old woman Sunday morning. The students have been released, the school said.
“It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns,” said Nick Gozik, the director of the school’s Office of International Programs. “We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the U.S. Embassy regarding the incident.”
The students were identified as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Kosten, all juniors.
Siverling, Kaufman and Krug are enrolled in Boston College’s Paris program, and Kosten is studying at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. Bosten College students can take classes there as part of the international program, according to the website.
Two of the students took to Facebook saying that she is praying that her attacker is healed from mental illness.
Krug said she was one of two who got hit in the eye with “a weak solution of hydrochloric acid,” but added that “mental illness is not a choice and should not be villainized.”
A spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press that two of the victims were injured in the face in the attack in the Saint Charles train station and one of them has a possible eye injury. Two were hospitalized for shock.
“I think they’re just shocked. I had an email correspondence with one of the four students who said she’s just exhausted by the whole ordeal,” said university spokesman Jack Dunn.
The suspect has been arrested. Boston College says police described the woman as “disturbed.”
Authorities are not investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
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