A Quebec resident of Moroccan origin has been living in terror since Friday. In addition to the collapse of his hometown, Mohamed Ben Omar Ait Idir lost a very large number of his loved ones.
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“I just received a text message from my sister telling me that we have now lost about 20 family members,” he said in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
This horror story is similar to the story of thousands of others around the world, but also here in Quebec.
“I was in my room, and suddenly my bed shot up and I ran. The walls collapsed. I have pictures, it’s unbelievable. There are two girls who were with me in the hotel, and they are dead,” said a man I met at Montreal Trudeau Airport.
“We have parents who are in Marrakesh. They couldn’t reach them. So, we have a moment of panic, and then we tell ourselves that our time has already come,” one of the women said.
For rescuers sent to the field, time is running out to find survivors, but also to extract bodies from the rubble.
A relative of Mohamed Ben Omar Ait Idir also told him about the horrific scene that happened in his native village.
“He told me as he walked, he said, ‘It’s really… there’s the smell of dead people and corpses. It actually starts because there’s heat,'” the Quebecois says.
“The place I know is my original village. There were more than 500 houses, and everything fell. There is no house left,” he adds.
To watch the full report, watch the video above.
