“SOS”, “victim passengers”… Corsica Linea travelers stranded in their car because of the strike
It’s a funny situation in which dozens of passengers have been plunged for several days. Due to a strike within Corsica Linea, against pension reformthe crossing to Algeria from Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) had to be canceled by the company… forcing travelers to stay in their cars since, in search of a solution.
“They are on strike, but we are impacted,” fumes Zohra, 69, who came alone by car from Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) to take the boat. “There are some who were notified at the last minute” of the cancellation of the crossing, she recalls, “I did not receive anything” and “no one from the company came to inform us” .
“On Monday around 3:40 p.m., I received an SMS saying that the crossing (Tuesday) was cancelled, but no Corsica Linea manager came,” says Sahbi Nassim, a 41-year-old craftsman who traveled from Paris. “To get them on the phone, it was impossible. It’s the last time I’m going with them, ”continues the forty-year-old, who has already lost almost a week of vacation out of the two weeks he was supposed to spend in Algeria.
“There was no boat before the beginning of April”
Because even if the Corsica Linea gave travelers the possibility of being reimbursed or exchanging their tickets, “everything was full, there was no boat before the beginning of April”, relates Allal, a 46-year-old temporary worker, recalling Ramadan starts in a week.
Their cars or vans overflowing with bags, suitcases, bicycles and even household appliances piled up on the roofs, several passengers chat to pass the time and go fishing for information. Like most passengers, Sahbi and Zohra have been sleeping in their car since Monday, which occupies one of the lanes of the roadway, for lack of an alternative.
“Even for the toilets, we struggled,” says Sahbi, who managed to take a shower thanks to the hospitality of another passenger who rented a hotel room. “This is a 1 star hotel. Or rather to 1,000 stars, those in the sky,” Zohra quips from her car, which has been her bed for four days. ” They told us You go to the hotel and you bring us the billsbut they didn’t think of the cars”, whose loads arouse the greed of pick-pockets, adds the retiree.
A boat on Friday?
On the entrance gate to the port, inexorably closed, three makeshift cardboard signs, on which we can read “SOS” or even “victim passengers”, have been hung. The passengers were finally informed that their crossing was postponed until Friday, which Corsica Linea also indicates on its website. But “I won’t be sure until I’m in the boat,” says Allal.
