Search continues for missing Moroccan players

IR Tanger

Wednesday Jul 10, 2024. 13:00

Botola Pro side IR Tanger have confirmed that two of their players are still lost at sea after going missing off the Moroccan coast on Saturday.

Five club members went sailing on a yacht they rented at the beach resort of M’diq, just 13km north of the city of Tetouan, and they decided to take a swim.

However, the weather turned suddenly and they were all cast adrift, with Oussama Aflah, Soumaimane Dahdouh and Abdelhamid Maali being rescued by emergency services several hours later.

Abdellatif Akhrif and Salman El-Harrak could not be found though, and IR Tanger president Mohamed Cherkaoui told the BBC that the “search for the missing players is still ongoing”.

Shortly after being brought to shore, Aflah spoke to local media outlet Tanjaoui about the incident that occurred on Saturday afternoon.

“Everything was normal – we woke up, had breakfast and rented a boat from the marina,” he said. “On our way out to sea, we were even stopped by the coastguard who made sure our papers were in order and that we had life jackets.

“Everything was fine and we were swimming within sight of the shore and just a few metres from the boat before the sea completely changed and heavy winds took us away from the boat.”