At least 57 migrants trying to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta have died after breaching the border from Morocco, as tens of thousands of people entered the enclave in the past 24 hours.
The Spanish government confirmed the raised death toll on Friday evening. Earlier in the day, Juan Jesus Vivas, the regional president of the North African Spanish enclave, had told reporters that 34 people had perished, without giving details about how they died.Aljazeera reported.
He said about 60,000 people had crossed from Morocco into Ceuta by land and sea, many by swimming around a border barrier stretching into the water.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who travelled to Ceuta on Friday, said his government was mobilising all available resources in response to the situation.
Sanchez called the crossings a “violation” of Spanish territorial sovereignty, saying that authorities were speeding up the repatriation of this week’s arrivals. Spain’s Ministry of Interior said some 25,000 people were returned from Ceuta to Morocco so far on Friday.
Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers’ association representing Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, called the situation a “serious humanitarian crisis”, saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were sleeping on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.
Among those who died, many drowned, Sbihi told The Associated Press news agency, but some were also killed in a stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco.
At the gates into Ceuta, Moroccan authorities had deployed water cannon trucks and pushed people back. The charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen nearby from clashes with the crowds.
Video footage on Thursday showed hoards of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters onto local roads. Most appeared to be young men, but there were also families with women and small children.
Ceuta, together with Melilla – another autonomous Spanish city in North Africa – represents the European Union’s only land border with Africa. Both cities often experience surges in attempted crossings by people seeking to migrate to Europe
