Two Franco-Moroccans killed by Algerian coast guard: “They saw that we were disarmed”

He is one of the survivors of a tragedy that claimed the lives of two French-Moroccan holidaymakers on Tuesday, who were killed by Algerian coast guards when they got lost on a jet ski. Mohamed Qissi, who is also the brother of one of the dead youths, was able to escape. On Thursday, he testified to Moroccan media, including Le360.

Mohamed Qissi says that on that day he decided to go to the beach with his brother and friends on jet skis from the marina of Saïdia, a coastal town near the Algerian border.

After having lunch there, they returned to their jet skis to get to the port. “When we left, it began to get dark, and we could no longer see the rocks of the pier,” testified Mohamed Qissi. In the dark and soon running out of fuel, they continued to advance until they entered the Algiers’ maritime space.

Rescued by the Moroccan Gendarmerie.

“We knew we were in Algeria because the black Algerian zodiac was approaching us,” he explained. After exchanging a few words with the Coast Guard, Bilal Kissi, Mohamed’s brother, gave direction. “We turned around and that’s when they started shooting at us,” said Mohamed Qissi. Bilal Qissi and Abdelali Meshuer are killed. A third man, also French-Moroccan, Smail Snabe, was arrested by the Coast Guard.

Mohamed Qissi managed to escape on his jet ski before the boat broke down. When trying to tow it by swimming, the young man was spotted by a patrol of the Moroccan gendarmerie, who went in search of the missing vacationers. Saved, he was able to return to Saidia. Whole and unharmed.

When asked by a 360 journalist to find out if the coast guards knew that they were dealing with civilians, Mohamed Qissi did not hesitate: “Yes, they clearly saw that we were disarmed, my younger brother exchanged with them, and yet they opened fire. »