Tourists on jet skis shot dead by coastguard after straying into foreign waters

01 September 2023 , 07:57

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The coastguard said they had strayed into Algerian waters (Image: Getty Images/EyeEm)

A jet ski journey turned into a tragedy when the Algerian coastguard opened fire on tourists holidaying in Morocco, killing two of them.

Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merchouer were among four French-Moroccan tourists who had set off from the Moroccan resort of Saidia. The coastguard said they had strayed into Algerian waters on their jet skis. A third member of the group was arrested by the coastguard which patrols the two states' closed border. France has confirmed that one French national was killed and another detained in Algeria.

The two nations have a long history of tensions with disputes over the Western Sahara. The shooting sparked anger in Morocco after a fisherman posted disturbing footage of a lifeless body floating in the sea. Mohamed Kissi was the only one of the group of four to make it back to Morocco and explained the group had run out of fuel.

He told Morocco World News: "We got lost but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria. We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian dinghy came towards us. [They] fired at us. Thank God I wasn't hit but they killed my brother and my friend."

Mohamed said they tried to reason with the coastguard before they were shot and they did not try to escape, despite such allegations. He said after they were shot he then tried to swim back to Saidia and was eventually picked up by the Moroccan navy. "I heard my brother saying ‘yes’ but he splashed into the water right after and died," he said.

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His cousin, the actor Abdelkarim Kissi, has called on the Moroccan authorities to bring the case to international courts. He said on social media: "They killed Bilal Kissi my little cousin. His only fault was crossing the Algerian territorial waters, he was on vacation with his friends." Abdelali Merchouer has been named as the second man killed.

The body of the second victim, a friend of the deceased, and the other surviving victim remain stranded on the Algerian coastline near the border point of Borsai. The royal gendarmerie in the city of Saidia in coordination with local authorities has opened an investigation into the case.

A Moroccan government spokesman declined to comment on the shooting, telling AFP it was "a matter for the judiciary".

Rachel Hagan