Ceuta Migrant Crisis: Death Toll Rises to 77

The death toll in Ceuta has risen to 77 after an estimated 60,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave in North Africa. Chaotic scenes ensued on Thursday and Friday, with a number of people drowning or killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier. Spain’s interior minister told a press conference that ‘normality is returning’ and that the majority of the undocumented migrants had been returned to Morocco.

The Spanish government has also announced it was installing a 500-meter-long containment barrier along the breakwater fence into the sea to prevent further crossings. The migrant crisis has sparked division in the EU, with Italy temporarily suspending the border-free Schengen arrangement with Madrid in a move backed by Finland and Denmark. Donald Trump has criticised the ‘catastrophe’, telling a cabinet meeting: ’I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place.

It looks like an invasion of a country.’ The US department of state has placed the blame on the socialist administration of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, stating that the incident was the ‘direct result of the Spanish Government’s deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe’. The EU has called an emergency meeting of national ministers to discuss the issue, after separate calls from Spain and 22 other members of the block. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has accused EU countries of a ‘selfish’ response, stating that ’solidarity and empathy are optional.

Respect for European treaties and data is not’. The incident has also sparked a reaction from other world leaders, with Elon Musk comparing the crisis to the 2013 zombie film ‘World War Z’. The UK’s prime minister Andy Burnham has offered to support Spain, without going into specifics.

The crisis has been blamed on human traffickers and criminal networks, who took advantage of a Supreme Court ruling in June that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla could not be summarily returned to Morocco without due process. Moroccan forces beat back crowds with batons and teargas at the gates to Ceuta, trying to prevent more from entering the tiny territory. More than 48,000 migrants returned to Morocco within 48 hours without major incident, Spain said.

The region’s president Juan Jesus Vivas said that ‘the return of people has begun satisfactorily but the process must be completed. The city has not yet returned to normal’. Moroccans who tried to cross into Ceuta have spoken out to explain why they attempted the dangerous crossing.

Abdulah Buji, a 21-year-old aspiring teacher, said that ‘Spain gives you the chance to make your future, not like Morocco. I am a talented boy. I just want a chance’.

Buji had sped to the border on his motorbike after hearing about the security breach. He said that he had spent 14 years studying, but there was nothing at home, and he would have to work 12-hour shifts for a meager wage. ‘That’s why I came here, but I haven’t found any opportunities here either, so I have to go back’.