2023-09-01 08:23:06
A fatal accident has occurred on the maritime border between Morocco and Algeria. French-Moroccan vacationers apparently took the wrong turn with the jet ski. They were shot dead by the Coast Guard.
According to reports in the Moroccan media, two vacationers riding jet skis were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard as they apparently crossed the maritime border between the two Mediterranean countries. Frenchmen Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Mercourer, who hold both French and Moroccan passports, have come under fire following making a wrong turn off the Algerian border in Saidia, a northern Moroccan resort popular with tourists.
A third French-Moroccan tourist named Smaïl Snabé was arrested by the Algerian coast guard, news website Le360 reported on Thursday, citing a witness. He was brought before the prosecutor on Wednesday, Le360 reported, citing “corresponding sources”.
“We got lost”
According to the news website, the group of vacationers consisted of four men. 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 were “shooting 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 finally picked up by the Moroccan Navy and brought back to the port of Saidia.
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.
Strained relationship
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.
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