An English holidaymaker has revealed how petrified tourists ran as a man pulled a machete out on a Moroccan beach. Shaun Lewin said he pulled out the huge sword and “just started knifing people” in the tourist resort of Agadir on Thursday afternoon.
He suddenly woke to see the man withdrawing the deadly weapon as dozens fled the sand screaming, he told the Mirror.
The knifeman attempted to avoid arrest as he ran into the sea and attempted to swim away from the scene but was later captured and taken into custody. The British couple attacked have not yet been named but the 45-year-old from Rotherham, Yorkshire, says they all owe their lives to quick-thinking beach staff who chased the suspect into the ocean.
Mr Lewin, on the trip to celebrate his birthday and Christmas with his friend Collette Bartholomew, says if it wasn’t for Rashid, the beach boy they have got to know well, many would have died.
He woke up to see the woman, who he understood to be French, slashed deep into her leg. It was then that the suspect targeted another British couple before staff stepped in.
He told the Mirror: “It was the most harrowing experience of our lives. I was relaxing on the sunbed with my headphones in and I suddenly woke up. A man was standing there pulling a huge machete from his trousers shouting something in Arabic. Within seconds he was slashing a woman’s leg, trying to kill her.
“Then, he went for a couple who turned out to be British. He attacked her back and then her husband’s leg. It was then that the lads at the beach swung into action – these people deserve a medal. If it wasn’t for Rashid and the others on camels, he would have killed a lot of people. It was a miracle that he didn’t, and that’s down to how quickly they responded. They chased him into the sea and the police – eventually – got him on jet skis. It took them over an hour.”
He went on: “We both did what we could to help – we’re first aid-trained. We carried them off the beach on a sunbed so they could get all the help they needed as soon as the ambulance arrived. We were terrified but at the same time, we felt so, so lucky. I’m going to put the lottery on.
“My friend has been speaking to the reps because she wants to go home. Seeing a man pulling a huge knife out at the end of our sunbeds is not something you can forget quickly. This is usually a very secure resort but we’ve had a very, very lucky escape. We owe so much to the beach workers.”
The 33-year-old suspect is understood to have been jailed three years ago for drug trafficking offences. The British holidaymakers have been described as a couple and the third victim is said to have been visiting from Belgium. The victims were all taken to Hassan II Hospital in Agadir.
The horror incident took place around midday yesterday on the seafront promenade in Agadir, an international resort on Morocco’s southern Atlantic coast. The suspect remains in police custody while the British couple have been released from hospital, where the other victim remains.
Spanish newspaper La Razon reported that police were investigating whether the attack was terror-related. Agadir is one of Morocco’s most urban areas, with a population of 924,000 according to a recent census. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “We are assisting two British people following an incident in Morocco and are in contact with the local authorities.”
