Two jet-ski vacationers holidaying in Morocco are shot useless by Algerian coastguard after straying into their waters

A pair of jet-ski vacationers holidaying in Morocco had been shot useless by the Algerian coastguard on Thursday after straying throughout their maritime border. 

Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merchouer, each French-Moroccan twin nationals, got here below fireplace after taking a fallacious flip off the seaside resort of Saidia on Morocco’s northeast tip, the Le360 information web site mentioned, citing a witness.

A 3rd man, Smail Snabe, additionally French-Moroccan, was arrested by the Algerian coastguard and appeared earlier than a prosecutor on Wednesday, Le360 reported.

There have been 4 males within the group on Tuesday, all driving jet skis within the Mediterranean, Moroccan media reported on Thursday.

‘We bought misplaced however we stored going till we discovered ourselves in Algeria,’ Mohamed Kissi, the brother of the younger man who died, was quoted as saying by the Moroccan web site Al Omk.

Two holidaymakers jet snowboarding in Morocco had been shot useless by the Algerian coastguard after they strayed throughout the maritime border between two Mediterranean nations, Moroccan media reported on Thursday (file photograph)

‘We knew we had been in Algeria as a result of a black Algerian dinghy got here in the direction of us’ and people on board ‘fired at us’, he mentioned.

‘Thank God I wasn’t hit, however they killed my brother and my buddy. They arrested my different buddy,’ he added.

‘5 bullets hit my brother and my buddy. My different buddy was hit by a bullet,’ Kissi was quoted as saying.

‘We bought misplaced and we had been out of gasoline,’ he mentioned, including that he was picked up by the Moroccan navy who took him again to the Saidia marina.

Kissi’s cousin, the actor Abdelkarim Kissi, has known as on authorities in Morocco to convey the case earlier than worldwide courts.

‘They killed Bilal Kissi my little cousin,’ he wrote on social media. ‘His solely fault was crossing the Algerian territorial waters, he was on trip together with his mates.’

The incident comes in opposition to a backdrop of elevated tensions between Algeria and Morocco exacerbated by their antagonism over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

The 1,242 mile border between the North African nations has been closed since 1994, and Algiers severed ties with Rabat in 2021 after accusing its neighbour of ‘hostile acts’, an accusation Morocco known as ‘utterly unjustified’.

When requested in regards to the reported capturing of the jet skiers on Thursday, Moroccan authorities spokesman Mustapha Baitas declined to remark, saying solely that it was ‘a matter for the judiciary’.

There was no instant remark from the Algerian facet.