KEY POINTS:
One of two Australians injured in a machete attack in Morocco has received a total of 40 stitches for wounds to his head, wrist and stomach.
John Parkinson, from Victoria, and Dianna Knox, from NSW, were slashed a number of times in the shock attack at the Sofitel Hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco, yesterday.
They were part of a large group of members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and their partners on a study tour.
A PSA spokesman today said Mr Parkinson, a pharmacist, was being treated by French doctors in a Marrakesh hospital where he received 40 stitches to cuts.
He was traumatised but recovering well from the incident.
The spokesman said Mr Parkinson intended to travel back to Australia as soon as he was able.
Ms Knox had her arm broken in the attack but was intending to continue her trip on to London, probably tomorrow.
Rampage
The attacker's rampage began after he climbed a wall into the pool area of the Morocco capital's Sofitel Marrakech about 11.15am local time yesterday.
The pair's travelling companions say there was no apparent motive for the disturbing attack, and no one else was attacked.
Security staff caught the attacker, handing him over to police as the Australians were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
They had arrived in Marrakech the day before, part of a Pharmaceutical Society of Australia study tour involving 190 society members and their partners.
Society vice-president Debbie Rigby said the pair were sitting about the pool relaxing when the man came over the wall and started hacking them with two machetes.
"Everybody else was running away screaming," she said in a telephone call to Sydney from the Marrakech hotel.
"As far we can tell it was an isolated incident, and the tour will continue."
Ms Rigby said the pair's injuries were not life-threatening.
"The injuries to both of them were to the arms and shoulder," she said.
Ms Rigby said the attack had disturbed everybody on the tour, but that a counselling expert with them was available to help anybody who needed it.
A hotel worker said the Australians were struck three or four times each by the attacker, suffering cuts to their arms, legs and upper body.
"They are our guests, they told us that they are Australian," the hotel worker said.
"They are not too badly injured," he said.
The attacker had previously received hospital treatment in the central town of Fes for mental problems, a police source said.
Hotel manager Najib Mountassir said: "It's an isolated act, the woman is resting in her room, but we have done tests for the man although his head injury is light."
- AAP
