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Updated March 20, 2020 at 07:18 AM IST
Thousands of travelers are stranded in Morocco, which has closed its borders, lockdown and closed hotels in major cities to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Thousands of travelers are stranded in Morocco, which has closed its borders, lockdown and closed hotels in major cities to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
But no one feels worse than the stagnant Americans who feel not only trapped in the picturesque North African kingdom, but also abandoned.
France, Morocco’s most sensible tourist sourcer, has controlled the evacuation of up to 13,000 of its citizens since Friday and is preparing to evacuate up to 7,000 more in the former colony, according to the Foreign Ministry. In addition to encouraging airlines to offer cargo of new flights, the French government announced Thursday the creation of a special site for French travelers hoping to return home.
On the other hand, U. S. tourists and academics have had to find answers for themselves.
Several hundred are scattered across the country’s cities, sleeping on the floor of Marrakech airport, locked in one of the last hotels opened in Rabat and organized in combination in a Facebook organization: American citizens trapped in Morocco. Some say they are running out of blood pressure pills and other medications.
“Marrakech airport is crowded. People are touching each other shoulder to shoulder and many are sleeping on the floor,” said student Corrine Schmaedeke, who got a cheap house ticket on Thursday after 18 cancellations.
“The U. S. embassy didn’t do anything to us,” he said, adding that the information came from the British embassy.
News of the U. S. officials began Thursday night, in a video tweeted through U. S. Ambassador David Fischer.
“We’ve won their phone calls and their emails. We listen to the stories,” he said.
The U. S. Embassy and State Department are “exploring all features and working tirelessly to make each and every American home safe,” Fischer said. He said the data would be posted on the embassy’s website and Twitter account.
That’s not the message heard through Kendice Kunce, an instructor in the Orlando, Fla. , area whose 11-year-old daughter expects her to return home. He said the U. S. consulate told him, “I just have to wait. “
Catherine Ferguson, a 77-year-old artist from Omaha, Nebraska, is staying at one of the last hotels open in Rabat with her husband and 10 other Americans. Almost all of them, over the age of 60, have run out of medicine and say they spend their days on iPads looking for flights to book e-books and even get permission from the Moroccan government to charter a flight to the United States.
“We don’t need to be there when things get worse in Morocco,” Ferguson said.
Shortly after those comments, Morocco’s Interior Ministry declared a state of physical emergency, prohibiting anyone from fainting to go to pictures or shop at grocery stores or pharmacies, and requiring them to present police with a document justifying their travel. According to the latest figures, Morocco has 63 confirmed cases of coronavirus, totalling two deaths.
Morocco suspended all passenger flights and ships to and from its territory starting Sunday. Since then, citizens from all over the world have been stranded in the country.
Travelers of different nationalities are stranded in Peru, Honduras and elsewhere, and some Americans are stranded on remote Easter Island.
Asked Thursday about the stranded Americans, President Donald Trump warned that the military could come to their aid, at least to a giant organization of about 300 more people in Peru.
Posted on Mar 20, 2020 at 07:18 AM IST
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