Stranded French Seniors Plead for Rescue from Moroccan Heat Wave

The seniors are facing sandstorms... 40 degrees every day. Marc Billard, volunteer trip organizer, who collaborates with an association based in Saint-Jean-d’Angely, is taking care of these camper-van enthusiasts, mainly from Poitou-Charentes. Divided into two different groups, of about thirty people each, they were surprised by the containment measures during their respective trips. While one group on an excursion in Mauritania was stopped in the middle of the desert, then moved to a large city, Nouadhibou, thanks to the intervention of the French embassy in that country, the second group is stuck in Taliouine, in Morocco.

The extension of confinement is increasing the anxiety of these French people blocked in Taliouine. "People had planned for 2 to 3 months of medication, okay. But for example, one of the travelers, an octogenarian, needs a specific treatment, in the form of an injection, which is not available in Morocco. He is waiting for it from France, but it is not arriving... So he postpones it as much as possible," says Danielle Berthelot. Worse, the death of a woman who arrived in Morocco with her husband from a stroke, adds to the anxiety of these retirees.

The major difficulty they are facing is how to find boats to return home. "We are promised boats, we don’t see any... We went through our deputies, the ministry says that boats are being set up. But the website of the Moroccan embassy refers to the company. When we can, we register, but it is then canceled!" confides Bernard Perré to Franceinfo.

"The problem is that everyone has focused on travel agencies, planes, not small associations like ours. We are facing a void. We are ignored, us, the retirees. We see that there are two Frances, the active and the others... When we see the monstrous sum spent to repatriate employees instead of the responsible company, and us... We are not asking for financial aid, we have already paid our tickets... twice!" laments Roland Caillaud, founder of the association.