By TERRY MOSELEY and CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS – NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A ban on international travel in Morocco has left two New Yorkers and 10 other Americans stranded in the North African the country — and so far, the U.S. Embassy has not told them when they’ll go home.
“The U.S. government needs to step up and get its citizens back,” said Cherine Anderson, of Washington Heights, who has made repeated efforts from the Moroccan city of Marrakesh to get in touch with the U.S. Embassy and Consulate General in Casablanca after the coronavirus outbreak.
“What we want is for the Moroccan air space to open up so that we can have a direct flight back to the United States. We don’t want to go to Pairs or the U.K., where they’re having situations of their own,” Anderson said. “Morocco is a beautiful country and we’ve had a wonderful time…but it’s time to go home.”
Anderson — one of 13 Americans and a Canadian in the tour group — arrived in the seaside region on March 9 for what was supposed to be an 11-day trip to North Africa.[More on Coronavirus] Wuhan reports no new coronavirus cases for 3rd straight day »
But as news of the highly-contagious COVID-19 spread, the globetrotters began to search for flights on Sunday out of Marrakesh.
“We all booked a bunch of flights on Royal Air — and within 24 hours, we started to get emails that the flights were canceled,” Anderson said. “We can’t fly anywhere.”
The U.S. Embassy in Casablanca released a statement on Tuesday that British Airways, Easy Jet, Ryan Air and TUI might be flying a limited number of emergency commercial flights this week from Agadir and Marrakesh — but they could not promise that every American would get a seat.
“Since these are commercial flights, we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee seats for U.S. citizens,” the statement said. “If you had previously booked a flight on these airlines, we urge U.S. citizens to contact these airlines right away.”
Deena Boykin, of Harlem, said the lack of information has been beyond frustrating.
“We don’t know how to prepare to get out of here without the help of the government,” Boykin said. “We’re asking the U.S. to have that conversation with the Moroccan government to open the airways to get people out.
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Chelsia Rose Marcius
New York Daily NewsCONTACT
Chelsia Rose Marcius is the criminal justice reporter at the New York Daily News. She is also the author of Wild Escape: The Prison Break from Dannemora and the Manhunt that Captured America. When she’s not out reporting, Chelsia teaches aspiring journalists at New York University.
