Death toll from migrant rush into Spanish enclave in North Africa rises to 72

The death toll from a mass rush of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week reached at least 72 ‌on Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast, officials said. The number of fatalities was considerably higher than what was announced by Moroccan authorities on Sunday. More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders ​with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc.

More than 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours and more did so over the weekend, Spanish authorities ​said. The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, told reporters on Sunday that, in addition to the 72 fatalities, ⁠more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services. The situation in the enclave had improved markedly, he said, but more remained to be ​done to re-establish normality.

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 11 people had died, mostly by drowning while trying to cross into Spanish territory, noting that it was fact-checking reports on deaths from the other side of the border. Moroccan authorities set the number of those involved in the crossing at 40,000, far lower than the figure used by Spanish officials, adding that 1,135 were ‌stopped from ⁠entering Melilla, another Spanish enclave. The statement reiterated that Morocco was committed to countering illegal migration and called for the burden of managing migration to be shared.

[paywall]

“It pains me deeply that young people are dying at sea. It’s not right that, in the year 2026, women with children as young as two months old should be crossing the sea only to die,” Karima Abenaz, a French national in Ceuta with family in Morocco, said while holding back tears. “In ​Morocco, there’s food, there’s everything we need,” she added.

“If we don’t have ​a decent job, we should go ⁠on strike and demand our rights from the government. We shouldn’t be dying at sea, it’s not right.”

[/paywall]