Moroccan earthquake death toll rises to 2,946 – Italian ‘tourists’ cause commotion as aid workers | Abroad

The search for victims and survivors continues in the hard-hit area and the death toll is expected to rise further. Rescue workers have difficulty reaching the mountainous area. The chance that people can still be pulled out alive from the rubble decreases every hour. It is not clear how many people are still missing.

However, some rescuers have caused a stir. It reportedly concerns four members of an official Italian emergency aid group, ‘Raggruppamento Operativo Emergenze’ (ROE), who, without consulting third parties, started helping in the affected region in the Atlas Mountains south of Marrakesh. They had not discussed this with anyone because Morocco did not ask Italy for help.

They had traveled to Morocco as tourists. On the spot, they spoke to the media and talked about what they called the incompetent and ineffective Moroccan aid.

This would have caused great irritation in Rabat and the Italian government was called to account. He approached the four, but they said they came in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Italian state. This also did not go down well with the Moroccan authorities, who pointed out that they were traveling in official blue ROE uniforms.

According to ROE’s website, the issue is being overblown by the media and is not a diplomatic incident. President Giovanni Battista Cicchetti Marchegiani says the ROE mission will continue as planned and will not be opposed by Moroccan authorities or aid institutions. The four will return to Rome as planned in the coming days, he said.