Who were the French people who died in Morocco? The terrible earthquake which struck the country on Saturday left “four French victims and fifteen injured”, indicates the Quai d’Orsay. “We deplore the death of three other French nationals near Marrakech, which brings the balance sheet, at this stage, to four French victims. Fifteen injured French nationals have been identified,” the French Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
In the process, the French ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, gave several details concerning the profile of these four people. The first of them “had a heart attack in Agadir at the time of the earthquake”. Subsequently, French authorities learned of the death of a young couple. Both were “in a house near Marrakech which collapsed,” said Christophe Lecourtier. According to a press release from the mosque of Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) published on social networks, the couple were among the faithful of the place and notably exercised a “volunteer” activity there. “They were both of good moral character and attended the mosque assiduously,” the message details. Finally, the last person to die was in a mountain village with his French family. “The village collapsed,” explained Christophe Lecourtier, “and so did the house they were in.” According to the diplomat, the village was “at the epicenter of the earthquake, that is to say south of Marrakech and east of Agadir”.
If this assessment remains provisional, the French embassy in Morocco indicated to Le Figaro that it had not changed this Monday. However, should we expect it to be revised upwards? “We can’t exclude anything,” replied the French ambassador to Morocco, who nevertheless specified that “the big cities of Marrakech and Agadir, where the vast majority of French tourists are concentrated when they come to this part of Morocco” , are now “cleared” and that the victims there are “relatively few”.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna insisted this morning on BFM TV that this was still a “provisional assessment”. “There are still a few people whose contact details we are looking for or whose whereabouts we are trying to find out,” she added. Catherine Colonna also recalled that there were “very many French people in the country”, with for example 21,000 French people in the Marrakech area. It is difficult to know precisely how many French people are still wanted by the Quai d’Orsay on site. For the moment, the French embassy in Morocco does not communicate any figures.