Reports indicate that two individuals were killed by Algerian forces after they crossed the sea boundary between Morocco and Algeria aboard jetskis.
Moroccan media said that Algerian officials captured a third individual.
Long ago, the border between the two North African neighbors closed due to lingering tensions over the Western Sahara and other contentious matters.
Maritime borders are relatively free of deadly run-ins.
The arrested individual is also French, the French foreign ministry confirmed, joining the French national who was slain during the purported standoff on Tuesday.
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The males were reportedly French and Moroccan dual citizens, according to Moroccan media.
The French government said the Paris prosecutor’s office had been informed of the event and that the matter was now in the hands of the law enforcement agencies.
According to the statement, the French government has been in touch with the relatives of the French citizens as well as officials in both Morocco and Algeria.
Mohamed Kissi reported his brother’s death to the Moroccan news outlet 360.ma.
He related how he, his brother Bilal, and two friends were on vacation in Morocco, riding PWCs off the coast of the town of Saaidia as dusk fell.
Our water scooters ran out of gas and we were adrift. “We sailed into Algerian waters in the dark,” he reported to 360.ma.
His brother was riding a water scooter when a speedboat bearing the word “Algeria” on its side approached them and a confrontation ensued, according to his brother.
According to 360.ma, Mr. Kissi alleged that the Algerian military opened fire on the group, killing his brother and his friend Abdelali Mechouer.
Mr. Kissi claims that their other friend was injured and taken into custody by Algerian soldiers. He said that he swam to safety and that the Moroccan Maritime Police came to his rescue.
A video of Bilal Kissi’s funeral in the Moroccan border town of Bni Drar was posted online on Thursday. The family of Mr. Mechouer, whose body was retrieved by Algerian soldiers, is reportedly asking for his body to be returned to them.
When asked about the incident on Thursday, Mustapha Baitas, a spokesman for the Moroccan government, said, “these issues are within the jurisdiction of the judicial authority.”
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