At least 67 people died in the recent surge in migrant crossings from Morocco to Spain’s north African enclave Ceuta, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters on Saturday, as against 18 as of Friday.
Most of the migrants had returned by Saturday to Morocco after tens of thousands crossed over the border, most by swimming around the small frontier post that juts into the Mediterranean Sea.
More than 60,000 migrants crossed overnight Thursday from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta.
A police source who spoke to APF said many came in by swimming around the small border barrier that meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Hundreds of people — men, women and children — were seen entering Ceuta by swimming around a border barrier with Morocco to enter the Spanish exclave, discarding flotation rings and clothes used in the risky passage.
The sudden massive influx has sparked an international crisis for Spain’s government, drawing criticism from Italy and Finland and prompting France to tighten checks on its border with Spain.
Madrid had sent troops and more police, including divers, drones and boats, to boost security in Ceuta.
In 2021, thousands crossed to take advantage of Rabat loosening border controls during a diplomatic dispute with Spain.
Already, the Ceuta scenes of the surge in migrants were causing diplomatic fallout.
Italy on Thursday called for Spain to be suspended from Europe’s open-borders Schengen zone, prompting Spain to summon Italy’s ambassador and accuse Rome of using the crisis for political gain.
Finland on Friday also backed Italy’s call to shut Spain out of the zone over the crisis.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that he had “given instructions to immediately step up controls at the Spanish border” on Thursday night.
Two top officials within US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday also reiterated their anti-immigration politics using video of Ceuta.
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