In Brazil, pranksters set sex workers on fire from their car window

Young people called the girls to the car, and when they got closer, they sent a jet of flame at them from a home-made "flamethrower" - an aerosol can and a lighter.

18-year-old Beatriz Vilella and her friend Gabrielle Victoria were walking through Rio de Janeiro's western Bangu district when they were the victim of a cruel prank.

The video, apparently filmed by the driver, shows the guy in the passenger seat waiting for the girls to come closer, then spraying them with a spray can and setting it on fire. Flames engulfed Villella's hair, who immediately bounced off the car and fell to the ground to the laughter of the pranksters. Then one of the passengers said in Portuguese: “Very good, dear, excellent,” after which the car hurriedly drove away.

"I got a little burned, but overall I'm fine," Vilella told Brazilian news agency G1. — My hair is in a terrible state; he set fire to all my hair.”

The fire also spread to Victoria's head and burned off one of her pigtails, which she ended up having to cut off.

Vilella said the suspects returned the next day and tried to dissuade them from going to the police. “They came back wanting to talk, asked me to get in the car and suggested that we keep our mouths shut, not say anything to anyone or speak (in front of the media),” she said.

Vilella, who has already been shot in the legs once while she was "in the workplace," called on local authorities to provide additional protection for sex workers.