Expedition members criticise Moroccans over caving disaster

Members of an expedition in which two Spaniards died rock climbing in Morocco accused Moroccan authorities on Thursday of letting the climbers perish by obstructing rescue efforts.
"It was a murder committed by the Moroccan authorities with the consent of the Spanish government," said expedition member Juan Morilla.
"Legal action will be taken," warned Morilla, at a news conference in the southern Spanish city of Granada.
He spoke alongside Juan Bolivar, a 27-year-old policeman who spent days trapped in the ravine with the two victims, lawyer Gustavo Virues, 41 and another policeman, Jose Antonio Martinez, also 41.
Sobbing, Bolivar described his six-day ordeal as he waited with Martinez, who was injured, to be rescued from the ravine after the accident on March 29.
"I was talking to him and giving him things to eat," Bolivar said.
On the following Saturday morning, he saw above "two people with ropes who were gesturing that we would be alright. I said to him, wait just five more minutes. We're going home."
A Moroccan gendarme reached the injured Martinez but was only accompanied by one other officer and they did not have the equipment to rescue him, Bolivar said.
He died on the seventh night night after the accident, hours before Spanish Civil Guards were authorised to come to the scene.
The cavers slammed Moroccan authorities for rejecting offers of help from Spain and criticised Spanish officials for failing to insist.
The three had split off from six fellow climbers, who alerted authorities that they were missing days before the Moroccans found them.
Spain said it had offered on April 3 to send a plane with a team of experts to Morocco but only got permission to send the rescuers two days later.
Source: AFP