Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

This 60-year-old Spanish woman says she suffered acid-like third-degree burns after she sat on a bus seat which had been covered in a chemical product that she could not see or smell.

The accident happened on the 1st of October on a public bus line in Ambite in the province of Madrid in central Spain but has only recently been reported in local media.

According to local media, Maria Luisa was travelling on a public bus and when she sat on a seat and noticed something was burning her thighs.

A chemical product was reportedly burning her skin through her trousers but it is unknown what kind of chemical it was.

Maria Luisa told local media: “I did not see or smell anything, because I am heavy I noticed something viscous and I said to a lady who was sitting next to me: “What is this that is itching?”

A passenger sitting next to her helped her clean the chemical off her trousers with a tissue. They alerted the driver and the Spanish Civil Guard were called to the scene.

She said: “I got off the bus and the Civil Guard took me to accident and emergency, they cared for my third-degree burns and then they sent me to the hospital to have a skin graft as I was left with necrose tissue because of the burns.”

According to Maria Luisa doctors did not carry out the skin graft operation as her burns were located in less than five percent of her body and she will have to have them treated in a health centre periodically.

She added: “At the beginning, they thought I had to get surgery but because of the protocols I cannot get it (the operation) because I was not burnt on more than five percent of my body.”

Maria Luisa complained that the bus company Alsa only started the procedures to pay her compensation stipulated by traveller’s insurance after the case was reported by local media.

She said: “When I went to claim they told me it was not their fault and that they would call me.

“My lawyer sent a complaint to the company on 17th October. […] It was only on Monday when the case was reported by the media that they contacted my lawyer to offer the traveller’s insurance.”

The 60-year-old woman hopes to have her treatment for the burns paid for by the company Alsa.

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