Search Operations Intensify for French Nationals Missing Off the Coast of Morocco
Efforts to locate two French citizens missing at sea continue as of Monday evening after their catamaran reportedly encountered difficulties off the coast of Tangier, northern Morocco. According to the National Center for Maritime Coordination and Rescue, the alarm was raised early Sunday morning, around 02:15 local time (01:15 GMT), indicating that the catamaran named 'Stella' was in distress. The rescue team subsequently located the vessel and a lifeboat, both found abandoned approximately three nautical miles, or about five kilometers, from the Tangier shoreline.
The catamaran was described as still 'floating' and has since been towed to the port of Asilah, approximately forty kilometers south of Tangier. Search operations are now focused on an auxiliary boat equipped with an outboard motor, which was part of the crew's equipment. As of now, the reasons behind the incident remain unclear, and it has been reported that the sailors did not have a distress beacon.
In a concerted effort to find the missing individuals, two aircraft, two helicopters, and three marine units have been deployed. Ground rescue teams are also scouring the coastline, and a French naval aircraft was dispatched earlier in the afternoon to assist in the search.
Adrien Danzé, the father of Vincent, one of the missing persons, recounted that a distress signal indicating a breach in the hull was sent at 01:15 GMT, followed by a message at 02:00 GMT stating that the crew was abandoning the boat for the auxiliary vessel. He elaborated that the boat was being transported from Martinique, in the French Caribbean, to a European port, either Barcelona or Marseille. This incident echoes a tragic event from November 2012 when another catamaran, 'Love-Love', sank off Saïdia, Morocco, during a storm, resulting in the deaths of four French nationals and the disappearance of a fifth, aged between 60 and 73 years.
As reported by ouest-france.fr.
