2023-11-03 15:46:00
Three days following the official end of the fifth edition of the event, the image of the Trek Rose, this sporting challenge in the form of an orienteering race in the middle of the Moroccan desert, is now famously tarnished. While the organizers rejoiced, Tuesday evening, at a new edition without a hitch, the blowback was particularly harsh for the latter: since Tuesday, dozens – even hundreds – of participants have denounced the health conditions in which they been diving. And which led to the development of a particularly dangerous diarrheal epidemic but obviously managed in a completely haphazard manner by the trek operator.
Candidate for the 5th edition of Married at First Regard in France, Laure Larrory was affected by the epidemic during the Trek Rose. She had to be infused. ©Instagram / Laurelarroyoff
According to witnesses on site, nearly 300 girls out of 800 were affected by the epidemic, undoubtedly shigellosis, an ultra-contagious diarrheal disease caused by a bacteria which kills nearly 200,000 people each year worldwide. The participants were affected more or less severely: while some only had a little nausea, others suffered from severe bloody diarrhea, vomiting, painful stomach aches and fever. Many runners were infused and at least twenty hospitalized.
“The sick vomited and defecated on themselves, it was apocalyptic”: how an orienteering race in the Moroccan desert turned into a nightmare
However, the race management seems to have remained in denial regarding the seriousness of the situation. “The doctors on site said that everything was under control but that was not the case,” Serge Messens, a doctor from Liège and husband of a participant seriously affected by the disease, told us on Thursday. They were totally overwhelmed by the scale of the epidemic. The sick vomited and defecated on themselves. It was everywhere. It was apocalyptic.”
Waste from the toilets was dumped… in trenches located a few meters from the tents housing the kitchens! ©Facebook / Collective Trek Rose Trip 2023 & Trophée Roses Des Sables Epidemic
If the basic hygienic conditions were denounced by the participants – waste water from the toilets was discharged into open trenches in the camp – the victims of the epidemic are now trying to organize themselves. As of Thursday, nearly 245 of them had already filled out a document detailing their symptoms, while many others had not yet made themselves known. On Friday, this figure now exceeded 300 victims.
So many women who should come together in an association. The idea of a collective to take joint action once morest the organizers has now been launched. To make the organizers recognize their responsibility in endangering the lives of others and neglecting basic health rules. And obtain compensation for the girls who were not able to fully experience their adventure.
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