Ferry Delay Strands Moroccan Passengers for 48 Hours in Tangier Port

While their arrival in Sète was scheduled for Monday, June 10 at 8:30 pm, the passengers did not reach their destination until Wednesday, June 12 at 2 pm. "We were supposed to leave on June 8. We went through all the procedures, passed all the checks, but in the end we couldn’t board. Several hours later, we were told there had been a fire," says Isabelle, one of the passengers, to Midi Libre.

The GNV company confirmed that its ferry "Le Majestic" on which the passengers were to board, experienced "a technical breakdown on board that caused a fire outbreak, quickly managed and extinguished by the company’s staff." This situation forced the passengers to wait 48 hours in a parking lot. "We had to fend for ourselves. Some people had fainting spells. It was the members of the Mohammed V Foundation who gave us food. It was hell!" denounces Isabelle.

"We were treated like cattle. GNV never communicated with us. And it was only after these long hours of waiting that we were able to sleep in a hotel, which, like the others, was not informed of our arrival and had nothing planned," fumes another passenger. Finally, the passengers boarded the Atlas ferry of the same company bound for Sète.

For GNV, the version provided by the passengers is not accurate. "In accordance with the conventions signed by the company with the local authorities and in coordination with the Mohammed V Foundation, the passengers who were to board in Tangier were rerouted on the following trips (departing the next day) and were immediately taken care of by the company’s staff both for their immediate needs, such as water and comfort items, and for the allocation of a hotel room where they could spend the night before boarding for their trip the next day," it clarified.

As compensation for the inconvenience caused, the company offered passengers a 50% reduction on their next trip. Some 70 passengers are said to be preparing to file a collective complaint against GNV.