Near the border with Ceuta, hundreds of Moroccans are searching for missing relatives after a mass crossing into Spain
Kyiv • UNN
At least 99 people died and dozens went missing after a mass crossing of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Hundreds of people gathered near the border to find their loved ones.
Hundreds of people in Morocco are searching for missing relatives after a mass crossing of migrants into Ceuta — a Spanish enclave in North Africa. At least 99 people died in the attempt to enter Spanish territory, while dozens more are considered missing. The Guardian reports, writes UNN.
Hundreds of people gathered in the northern Moroccan city of Fnideq, near the border with the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, showing passers-by photographs of their missing relatives in the hope of finding them
As the media outlet notes, it was this small stretch of land that found itself at the centre of attention of global publications last week, when around 72,000 people crossed the border en masse into Ceuta — a small Spanish territory in North Africa.
On Tuesday, while the interior ministers of EU countries held an emergency video conference in an attempt to resolve the situation, attention on the Moroccan side of the border focused on the tragic death toll.
According to local authorities, at least 88 people died in Ceuta and another 11 in Morocco, while dozens are still considered missing.
She travelled to the border from her home in Tangier, assuming that her unemployed son was among those who had crossed the border. "He did not tell me he was going to cross. It is a tragedy," the woman said.
According to Spain's interior minister, approximately 70,000 people who arrived in Ceuta at the end of last week have been returned to Morocco in recent days.
Referring to posts on TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp claiming that Morocco was allowing people to cross the border, thousands of people arrived in Fnideq on foot, by bus and by car, joining the flow of those attempting to reach Spain.
Madrid quickly reached an agreement with Rabat to return most of the people who had crossed the border in less than 48 hours, while simultaneously trying to avoid a political crisis caused by calls to temporarily exclude Spain from the Schengen Area.
In recent days, non-governmental organisations across Spain have expressed concern that some of the people who arrived in Ceuta and were entitled to international protection were returned to Morocco without being given the opportunity to apply for asylum.
On Tuesday, the Spanish government said that around 2,000 people who had crossed the border remained in Ceuta. Among them were at least 862 children registered as unaccompanied minors. UNICEF's office in Spain warned that dozens of other children could still be wandering the city's streets without protection.
Spanish police said they had opened a special office in Ceuta to receive reports of missing persons.
Concern over the fate of unaccompanied children intensified after Spanish media published a video showing a 12-year-old boy crying and begging a soldier not to return him to Morocco.
After witnesses intervened and reminded officials that Spanish law prohibits the deportation of unaccompanied children, the operation, which was taking place several metres from the border, was halted.
Several days after the mass influx of migrants, the question of what exactly caused such a border crossing remains open.