Susan Simon and Lilian Pajic have been going to the airport in Marrakech each morning at 5 a.m., hoping to find a way home.

The two Canadians were supposed to return from their 15-day trip to Morocco on Monday. That’s the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal governmet was closing the border to anyone except Canadian citizens, permanent residents and Americans and encouraged all Canadians abroad who were not sick to come home.

Instead, the pair have found themselves pushing and shoving with other desperate travellers, including many Canadians, looking for ways to return home as the fear of the novel coronavirus sweeps the world and closes borders.

"We are scared our hotel may close down anytime because they can't pay people to work. Restaurants are closed. We had coffee and some buns in our hotel, but we're getting less food," said Pajic, a resident of Keswick, Ont., who has had three return flights cancelled already.

"We got some oranges, meat and cheese from a grocery store, but the selection is getting less and less. Each of us has one mask, given to us by an Australian girl we met," added the civilian staffer with York Region Police.

"We just want a plane to get us home."

Like other Canadians stranded in Morocco, Pajic and Simon said they have made unsuccessful attempts by email and phone to seek help from Canadian officials in Rabat, the capital city, since they learned last week that their original Air Canada-Royal Air Maroc flights through Frankfurt had been cancelled.

On Tuesday, some received an email from Global Affairs in response to their travel inquiries but it offered little comfort.

"You should not depend on the Government of Canada for assistance related to making changes to your travel arrangements with your service provider. You are encouraged to continue followups with your airlines, travel agencies, cruise lines or other travel service providers directly," it said.

"Canadians who are outside of Canada should find out what commercial options are still available ... consider returning to Canada earlier than planned if these options are becoming more limited."

The letter also said the federal government is providing financial assistance to Canadians abroad.

"Everybody is shutting down their airports and borders. There are no planes to be had," said Canadian Audrey Dyke, who arrived Morocco last Wednesday for a two-week tour with her friend, Judy Raush.

"We are sandwiched."

The two are stuck in a Casablanca hotel as their tour company scrambles to fly them home.

Raush said there had been no coronavirus cases in Morocco and just a couple dozens of positive cases in Canada when the pair decided to go ahead with the trip they had booked last summer.

"We have presidents, prime ministers and leaders coming out with new rules. We turn around and try. Then another country will come up with something else. There is no lead time for us to react. We have to reroute through other countries and it's difficult when one doesn't let us in," Dyke said.

Meanwhile, Pajic and Simon say the uncertainty is taking a toll.

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"We are so stressed and are crying all day everyday. The unknown is scary," said Simon, who owns an interior decoration and painting company in Tottenham, Ont., and has her employees taking care of her business in her absence.

"We have no help here other than from our tour guide."

Both Simon and Pajic, who is digging into her sick days from work while stuck in Morocco, hope the federal government will fly in a chartered flight to evacuate Canadians like it did to bring Canadian home from Wuhan, where COVID-19 originated.

"Please take care of your people and get us out of here," Pajic said.

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