RUMFORD — One of the teenage sisters who were hospitalized after being attacked by a pit bull Wednesday will require a second surgery on her leg, the girls’ mother said.

Alicia Mitchell spoke by phone Thursday from Central Maine Medical Center, where her daughters were sharing a room.

She said her 17-year-old daughter, Vicki, would be heading back with her to their Erchles Street duplex. But, Ashley, 18, whom Mitchell described as having “a big hunk of flesh hanging from her leg” after the attack, will have another surgery Friday.

Police got a call at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday from an Erchles Street resident who said a pit bull was attacking a neighbor in Strathglass Park and not letting go of her leg, Chief Stacy Carter said in a news release.

Mitchell and her daughters live in the left side of the duplex. She said the pit bull got out through a broken door, and then through a fence, on the right side of the residence.

The pit bull bit Vicki, then bit Ashley. Their mother also was bitten when she tried to intervene.

“I sprayed the dog in the eyes, thinking it would let go,” Mitchell said. “He did let go for a brief moment, and that’s how I got bit.”

The dog has been quarantined pending an investigation.

Mitchell, who said that she only knows two people in her neighborhood, thanked those who came to their aid during the attack, “especially the neighbor across the street for this bravery. He saved my daughter’s life and leg. He beat that dog off my daughter’s leg and held him until rescue came and got him.”

She said they had not previously encountered the pit bull. “We’d never seen that dog out loose before.”

Mitchell said she has not heard from her neighbor, the dog’s owner. She also has not heard from the landlord of the duplex.

“I’ve been through a lot. I’m just worried about my girls getting better and coming home,” she said.

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