Windsor man stuck in Morocco, attempts to leave have failed

Two weeks ago, Rakan Aloran landed in Tangiers, Morocco for vacation. Then, he said, the whole world basically just stopped.

He said his first flight back to Canada was supposed to be March 18, the earliest flight he could find. After booking it, despite the cost and it being a long flight, it was cancelled. The Moroccan government suspended all flights in and out of the country.

Aloran is closely following advice from the Canadian Embassy in Morocco, which tweeted on March 15, that there was no specified date for the suspension of flights. Reading that gave him "some reassurances that at least I'm ok."

"Then suddenly Turkish Airlines said that they've cancelled and everyone's scrambling to find ways out," he said.

But finding a flight was easier said than done. 

"I've been checking, checking, checking. Nothing," Aloran said.

Although it's been a difficult time, he understands the pressure the government is currently dealing with at home and with Canadians abroad. 

"I think that the government is trying its best, but this is the situation that we're in," Aloran said. "We're scrambling to get out."

He said with the amount of information, both accurate and not, have been hard to navigate through.

"If it wasn't for the Canadian Embassy tweets to shed some light we would be in the dark," he said.

Currently, he's staying in his hotel room, but hopes to leave as soon as he can. Aloran has found another lifeline, a Facebook group for Canadians in Morocco.

"There's a whole bunch that are also in my situation," he said. 

Now he's trying to figure out if it would be better to get together with them in one city, in case there is a repatriation effort. Or go to another city that could have a flight out. But lots of questions remain.

"Are the trains between those cities, are they working? So if there's a flight out of Casablanca, am I able to hop on a train?" Aloran said. "But that's also a risk in a time when the whole country is staying at home."

Aloran has received a message from the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs that it is aware of the situation with Canadians in Morocco and it is working hard to bring this to a resolution.

He has also been in touch with his MP, Irek Kusmierczyk. Aloran had worked on his campaign.

As of Tuesday evening in Morocco, the Canada in Morocco twitter account posted it has been advised by the UK Embassy that 30 commercial flights are leaving from Agadir and Marrakesh to London until Thursday, March 19 through multiple commercial airlines.

The nearest airport for Aloran to get on one of these flight is about 575 kilometres away.