2023-08-31 23:02:58
Mediterranean Sea
Two jet ski drivers shot dead by Algerian coast guard
Several tourists were crossing the sea border between Morocco and Algeria on jet skis when a black rubber dinghy approached them and opened fire.
Published1. Sep 2023, 1:02 am
Jet ski drivers on the move in the Mediterranean Sea. (archive image)
IMAGO/YAY Images
Several jet ski drivers accidentally crossed the sea border between Morocco and Algeria.
They took a wrong turn and ran out of fuel.
They came under fire from the Algerian Coast Guard.
According to reports in the Moroccan media, two tourists riding jet skis were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard as they apparently crossed the maritime border between the two North African Mediterranean countries. Two Frenchmen, Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merhouer, who also held Moroccan passports in addition to French, have come under fire following making a wrong turn outside the northern Moroccan tourist resort of Saidia on the Algerian border, the news website Le360, citing, reported on Thursday to a witness.
A third French-Moroccan tourist named Smaïl Snabé was arrested by the Algerian coast guard. He was brought before the public prosecutor on Wednesday, reported Le360, citing “corresponding sources”.
out of fuel
According to Le360, the group consisted of four men on Tuesday. All were therefore on jet skis. “We were lost,” Moroccan website Al Omk quoted Bilal Kissi’s brother Mohamed Kissi as saying. Accordingly, he and his companions had run out of fuel. “We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian rubber dinghy was coming towards us” and the people on board “shot at us,” he said.
Luckily he wasn’t hit himself. His brother and friend, on the other hand, were killed following being hit by “five bullets”. He himself was eventually picked up by the Moroccan Navy and taken back to the port of Saidia.
Strained Relationships
When asked regarding the alleged shooting of the jet ski riders on Thursday, Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Baitas declined to comment. This is “a matter for the judiciary,” he said. Algeria initially did not comment on the incident.
Relations between Algeria and Morocco have been strained for decades. One of the issues at stake is the status of Western Sahara. While Morocco regards the oil-rich Western Sahara as part of its national territory, the Polisario Front, which is active in Western Sahara, is campaigning for independence with the support of Algeria.
The border between the two North African countries has been closed since 1994. Algiers severed ties with Rabat in 2021 following accusing the neighboring country of “hostile acts” – an accusation Morocco has described as “completely unjustified”.
(AFP/chk)
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