Four individuals reportedly got lost while swimming in the ocean close to the Moroccan resort of Saidia, including the French-Moroccan victims.
According to Le360 news agency, which cited sources and a survivor of the incident, two jet skiers who had strayed into Algeria’s territorial seas were shot and killed by coastguards on Tuesday.
According to the site, the victims, French-Moroccan Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Mechouer, were among a group of four visitors taking part in water activities close to the Moroccan town of Saidia.
According to Kissi’s family, a local fisherman found his body off the coast of Saidia Bay. Mechouer’s body has not been located, but it is thought to be on the Algerian side of the border.
The Moroccan Navy took up Mohamed Kissi, Bilal’s older brother, and brought him back to the Saidia harbour, he informed the journalists.
“We became disoriented, but we kept going until we reached Algeria. When a black Algerian zodiac approached us and began to zigzag as if to topple us, we realised we were in Algeria, Mohamed told the outlet.
He remarked, referring to the people on board the Algiers ship, “They fired at us.” Thank God I was spared, but they slaughtered my friend and my brother. My other friend was also detained, he continued.
Smail Snabe, a survivor of the event, was reportedly detained by Algerian officials, according to the Moroccan media outlet Le360. He allegedly appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday before being held in pre-trial detention at a Port Say police station.
The murder of one of its citizens and the incarceration of another were both reported to the Moroccan and Algerian governments by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.
Since 1994, the border between Algeria and Morocco has been closed. Rabat’s diplomatic ties were broken in 2021 after Algiers accused Rabat of “hostile acts.”
Israeli recent declaration of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region has heightened tensions between the two North African neighbours. The bordering country of Algeria described Israel’s assistance to Rabat as a “flagrant violation” of international law.
