Update @ 3pm, September 12: The customer referred to in this story has now left intensive care and is due to return to the UK imminently.
An Intrepid Travel customer is in intensive care while staff have lost loved ones and homes as a result of last week’s devastating earthquake in Morocco.
Chief executive James Thornton told a Travel Weekly webcast the last few days had been a “really upsetting time” for the company’s staff and customers.
One of the operator’s customers was being treated in hospital at the time of the interview [Monday] as a result of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake on September 8 while friends and family of team members have died. In total, more than 2,000 people are reported dead and thousands injured.
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He said: “It’s a really difficult time and we’re doing our best to support those people who have been so badly impacted on the ground.
“We do have one customer who is in intensive care at the moment who we are supporting and hoping things turn out okay.
“Unfortunately, we have team members who’ve lost loved ones, whose homes have been destroyed in the Atlas region. We’re doing our best to support those people who have been so badly impacted on the ground.”
Intrepid had more than 60 trips taking place on the ground in Morocco, with more than 650 customers in the destination, at the time of the earthquake. It has 77 office based staff in Marrakech.
The earthquakes’s epicentre was in the Atlas Mountains, around 70km southwest of Marrakech.
Marrakech’s old town was “significantly” impacted by the earthquake as well as areas in the Atlas Mountains, said Thornton, adding: “It’s been a really tough weekend, particularly for our team, customers, suppliers partners across Morocco. It’s our biggest destination globally and one of our biggest offices globally. When the earthquake hit late on Friday night, it was a really upsetting and difficult time.”