Stranded Belgian Couple Seeks Repatriation from Morocco Amid Extended Lockdown

The couple will not have been able to pursue their goal, that of touring Morocco for a month to test their new acquisition. "For now, we should have been driving on the roads of Russia or Kazakhstan," regrets Michel, confined to the beach near Agadir for two months.

"It’s starting to weigh psychologically and we would like to return to Belgium, even if it means being confined at home," he wishes. The couple is facing a major problem: they cannot obtain authorization to go back up to Tangier, where rare boats sometimes make the crossing, reports RTBF. "We had booked tickets to join Barcelona from Tangier, without knowing if we would be able to leave the port.

But we just learned that this connection was also canceled," he confides. Michel Van den Bossche and his wife say they have not been contacted by the Belgian embassy or consulate general in Morocco. Yet they had registered on the Travellers online website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before their departure. "The embassy does not respond and the consulate seems closed. We reach the answering machine and we are never called back."

The couple will finally receive a response. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arnaud Gaspard, directs them to the boats that France is chartering to repatriate motorhome owners. He therefore advises the couple and other motorhome owners stranded in Morocco to go to the website of the French Consulate General in Tangier, which lists the connections between Morocco and Europe. Michel Van den Bossche and Noëlle Godan are now betting on this possibility to return to Belgium.