Two people, including a French citizen, died on Tuesday while on a jet ski trip with friends in Morocco. According to a report from one of them, they drifted towards Algerian waters, where the occupants of an Algerian dinghy shot at them.
Two men, including a French national, died on Tuesday while traveling with friends on a jet ski in Morocco. From the Moroccan coast, they drifted towards Algerian waters, where the occupants of an Algerian dinghy shot at them, according to one of them.
• What happened on Tuesday?
On Tuesday evening, four men left Morocco to go jet skiing near the coastal town of Saïdia in the north-east of the country. “We got lost around 5:30 p.m. We ran out of fuel for the jet skis and just drifted. In the dark we were in Algerian waters,” one of them, Mohamed Kissi, told Moroccan media about the Le 360 performance.
Map of Morocco and Algeria showing the town of Saïdia off the coast of which a Frenchman was killed on a jet ski – BFMTV
According to his report, a rubber boat with the word “Algeria” on it approached them and as they tried to return to the Moroccan coast, the boat’s occupants began shooting at them.
• What’s the score?
According to the French Foreign Ministry, at least one of the vacationers, a French citizen, died when Mohamed Kissi fled. This is his brother Bilal Kissi. According to our information, another man, a Moroccan national, Abdelali Mechouer, was also killed. According to Moroccan media, his remains were not recovered by his family.
Mustafa Mechouer, Abdelali Mechouer’s father, told Portal he believed his son died on Tuesday and wanted to bury him. “I call on the Moroccan and Algerian authorities to reach an agreement to bring my son back and give him a proper burial,” he said.
The fourth holidaymaker, a French citizen, was detained in Algeria, the French Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
• How do the affected countries react?
“The Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and our embassies in Morocco and Algeria are in close contact with the families of our fellow citizens, to whom we express our full support. We have expressed our condolences,” said the Quai d’Orsay this Friday.
The ministry added that it was in contact with Moroccan and Algerian authorities and that the Paris prosecutor’s office had been “informed” of the situation. “It will be up to justice to clarify the circumstances of this tragedy,” stressed the Quai d’Orsay.
Neither Algeria nor Morocco reacted to this affair. In response to a question from the local press on Thursday, Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Baïtas did not comment, only answering that it was “a matter that falls within the jurisdiction of the judiciary.” According to Moroccan media Al Omk, the Moroccan public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the death of Bilal Kissi.
• How are relations between Morocco and Algeria?
The affair takes place against the background of very strained relations between Morocco and Algeria. Its borders have been closed since 1994 and Algeria cut diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021, accusing Rabat of “hostile acts,” a decision “Completely unjustified” according to Rabat.
These tensions arise in particular from the situation in Western Sahara, a region disputed by Morocco and the Polisario Front, an armed movement that proclaimed the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic there in 1976. Algeria supports the Polisario Front.
Israel’s recent recognition of “Moroccan sovereignty” over the territory of Western Sahara has reignited tensions with Algiers, which denounced a “flagrant violation of international law.”