A man from Bucks has described the ‘surreal’ experience of being trapped in Marrakesh when the worst earthquake the country has seen in a century struck the city.

Abhay Ashiani, 25, from Aylesbury, landed in Marrakesh on Wednesday for a sightseeing holiday with his two friends, who also live in Buckinghamshire.

They followed a tour guide around the Atlas Mountains on Thursday, just one day before a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region on Friday night, resulting in over 2,000 deaths, with at least 2,000 more estimated to be injured.

Whilst waiting for his flight home at Marrakesh Airport today (September 10), Abhay said one of his first thoughts had been whether the small rural communities he had seen in the mountains less than 48 hours before had survived the quake.

“I can’t even explain how it feels – a part of me still can’t believe that it happened.

"We messaged our tour guide and he said his family was safe. There’s obviously a sense of relief that we’re able to fly home but I still wish I could do more.”

Abhay and his friends were paying for the bill after eating dinner at a rooftop restaurant in a hotel in Marrakesh when the earthquake hit, causing the ground to “violently shake” and glasses to shatter.

From the roof, he watched in terror as smoke billowed from a crumbling mosque in the street below before running downstairs with other diners and waiting staff.

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“It was very, very scary. I really took comfort in the fact that we were a big group, all going through it together. Everyone stayed the whole night in the swimming pool lounge downstairs and the staff were amazing and really helpful.”

The scene of the Marrakesh street in the early hours of Saturday morning is an enduring image in Abhay’s mind – “It was completely deserted. Some of the streets had been blocked off by falling buildings and there was so much rubble. It just felt incredibly eerie and surreal.”

The three friends had already planned on flying back to the UK today, but others they had met had to rearrange flights booked for later in the week or re-route their journeys through other countries to get home. 

He's glad that he managed to reassure his three sisters that he was safe before news broke of the earthquake in the UK – but he doesn't think the reality of the experience has quite sunk in yet.

“It still feels so surreal. I was watching the BBC this morning and the reporter was standing in front of a collapsed building in Marrakesh – it was absolutely crazy to think I was there just ten minutes before.”