British family describe Morocco earthquake terror as they fled crumbling hotel and spent night sleeping outside: ‘We grabbed our four-year-old and ran as the walls were cracking’
- Carina Williams, 43, was holidaying with her family when the earthquake struck
- She says they have had no direct communication with their travel agency
A British mother has described her family’s terror at being caught in Friday’s Moroccan earthquake which forced them to flee their crumbling hotel and spend a night sleeping outside.
Carina Williams, 43, was holidaying with her husband and son in Marrakesh when they were caught in the devastating earthquake that has claimed over 2,000 lives.
The mother from Treorchy, Wales had just put four-year-old son Logan to bed at the Aqua Mirage Hotel when she says there was a ‘loud rumbling noise’ before the walls began to shake and crack, and decor fell from the walls.
Running outside, Carina and her family waited the terror out, but were allegedly left to spend the night on the ground with no direct communication from their TUI travel agency or their ‘useless’ holiday rep.
Carina claims that they sought the TUI member on the Saturday morning but that he was ‘rude’ and ‘very arrogant’, walking away from guests as they questioned him.
A British mother has described her family’s terror at being caught in Friday’s Moroccan earthquake which forced them to flee their crumbling hotel and spend a night sleeping outside. Carina Williams, 43, shared these pictures of the hotel in the aftermath of the quake
Left: Cracks are seen in the side of a building in the aftermath of Friday’s earthquake in Morocco. Right: People are seen sleeping on sunbeds beside a pool at a hotel near Marrakesh
The staff member also allegedly informed the holiday-makers that their building was safe to return to, despite no survey being carried out to check the structural safety of the hotel, while pictures showed cracks in the walls.
READ MORE: ‘We only find dead bodies…the smell of corpses is very strong’: Horror of Moroccan quake survivors forced to live among the remains of those killed
Carina added that the staff then gave them the option of staying at the hotel, moving to another block – despite there not being enough rooms – or to fly home.
Desperate to get home, Carina claims to have urgently attempted to contact TUI but were told that there were no available flights.
Carina alleges that other family members in the UK had gone to their local TUI branch but that staff had only been informed of the disaster on Saturday morning.
The family now claim to have received no refund for the loss of their holiday after their traumatic experience.
Speaking to Carina today, she said: ‘We came home in a repatriation flight on Saturday night. We were supposed to be there until [Monday].
‘We had gone back to our room around 10.30-10.45pm as our little boy was tired. We had literally just put him in to bed when we heard this terrible loud rumbling noise.
‘Block one that we were in just started shaking profusely and leant forward, throwing my partner towards the balcony doors and then back towards the room.
‘It was then everyone started screaming: “It’s an earthquake”.
‘Things were falling, the light in the bathroom fell down, cups came off the units.
‘We then grabbed our son and ran out of the building as quickly as we could. The walls were cracking, tiles falling off the walls, stairs shaking, everyone screaming.
‘We thankfully got outside safely and there were hundreds of people everywhere but not one rep in sight. Staff had no idea what to do – everyone was panicking.’
‘As things started to settle, it was just by word-of-mouth people were told to remain outside overnight,’ she said.
‘Nobody physically came to us and told us anything we were just left to sleep around the grounds with no additional information.’
The family say a TUI staff member allegedly informed the holiday-makers that their building was safe to return to, despite no survey being carried out to check the structural safety of the hotel, while pictures showed cracks in the walls
People are seen camped out on sunbeds at the hotel, while the patio around the pool appears to have been damaged by the quake
Pictured: Cracks are seen in the walls of the Moroccan hotel where Carina and her family had been staying when the country was struck by the powerful earthquake on Friday
On Saturday morning, the mother said they ‘went to find the TUI rep and to be absolutely honest he was useless, rude and very arrogant.’
She said the rep was ‘walking away from people when they tried to talk to him and just kept saying “Will let you know when I do”,’ she recalled.
‘Thankfully, we had amazing family support back home, so family members headed straight to the TUI stores – who apparently hadn’t been in informed of the earthquake until that morning around.
‘Throughout the day, we kept going back and forth, ringing TUI, chasing the rep down but nothing. No communication at all.
‘Block one that we were in took the brunt of the impact along with the dining area.
‘To then have the TUI rep around 2-3pm say that the building was safe and we could return to our rooms as themselves and management had walked around and had a look.
‘People were not happy as how can they say it’s structurally safe without a full survey? We sent pictures home to a family member whose line of work that is and he advised do not re-enter the rooms as it was unsafe.
‘We were then given options to stay, move blocks or fly home. Again, all this was a mess, as there were not enough rooms to move everyone.
‘We were told by the TUI helpline there were no flights going out and no other available flights out – this went on for hours.
More than 2,800 people have been killed in earthquake – Morocco’s deadliest in more than six decades. The 6.8 magnitude quake struck late on Friday in the High Atlas Mountains, with the epicentre 45 miles southwest of Marrakesh
‘Then finally about 6.30-7pm we spoke to another couple who had just been told there was a flight at midnight.
‘Overall, TUI, during the whole thing, was crap.
‘It was awful. Honestly, we fly with TUI all the time but in a time of crisis absolutely terrible – nothing from them at all.’
TUI has been contacted for comment.
More than 2,800 people have been killed in earthquake – Morocco’s deadliest in more than six decades. The 6.8 magnitude quake struck late on Friday in the High Atlas Mountains, with the epicentre 45 miles southwest of Marrakesh.
The earthquake has sown destruction and devastation in the country, where death and injury counts continue to rise after rescue crews dug out people both alive and dead in villages that were reduced to rubble through Monday.
Of the 2,862 deaths reported as of Monday, 1,604 were in Al Haouz, a region with a population of around 570,000, according to Morocco’s 2014 census. In certain villages such as Tafeghaghte, residents say more than half the population died.
Villages of clay and mud brick built into mountainsides have been destroyed.
Most of the dead have already been buried. The government reports 2,501 injuries.
Friday’s earthquake was Morocco’s strongest in over a century. Although such powerful tremors are rare, it isn’t the country’s deadliest: Just over 60 years ago, Morocco was rocked by a magnitude-5.8 quake that killed over 12,000 people on its western coast, crumbling the city of Agadir, southwest of Marrakesh.
A worker looks through the rubble in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Talat N’Yaaqoub in Morocco September 12, 2023
A woman enters a damaged building inside the Medina following a powerful earthquake in Marrakesh, Morocco, 12 September 2023
That quake prompted changes in construction rules in Morocco, but many buildings – especially rural homes – are not built to withstand such force.
There had not been any earthquakes stronger than magnitude 6.0 within 310 miles of Friday’s tremor in at least a century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Northern Morocco experiences earthquakes more often, including tremors of magnitude 6.4 in 2004 and magnitude 6.3 in 2016.
Elsewhere this year, a magnitude 7.8 temblor that shook Syria and Turkey killed more than 21,600 people. Most of the most devastating earthquakes in recent history have been above magnitude 7.0, including a 2015 tremor in Nepal that killed over 8,800 people and a 2008 quake that killed 87,500 in China.
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