Ceuta Migrant Crisis Death Toll Climbs To 72

The death toll from last week’s mass migrant surge into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has risen to at least 72, after five more bodies were recovered along Morocco’s coast on Sunday, a figure significantly higher than what Moroccan authorities have reported.

More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea starting Thursday, in an unprecedented rush at one of the EU’s only two land borders with Africa. Spanish authorities said over 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours, with more following over the weekend. Spain’s government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, said more than 1,000 people received medical treatment, adding that conditions in the enclave have improved but full normality hasn’t yet returned.

Many migrants drowned or were crushed attempting to scale a breakwater and border fence, driven largely by economic hardship and rumours circulating on social media. Morocco’s Interior Ministry, however, put its own death toll at just 11 mostly drownings and said it was still verifying reports of additional deaths on the Spanish side. Rabat blamed the surge on online misinformation, trafficking networks, and confusion over a Spanish court ruling barring immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea, echoing similar comments from Spain’s Foreign Ministry. Moroccan officials also estimated only 40,000 people were involved in the crossing far below Spain’s count and said 1,135 additional people were stopped attempting to enter Melilla, Spain’s other North African enclave.

Ceuta’s leader, Juan Jesus Vivas, told El Pais the local morgue has received 88 bodies in total, including victims from smaller, earlier crossing attempts made during hazardous night swims over the past two weeks. He said Moroccan authorities are also pulling bodies from the sea, though no official figures have been shared from that side.

One Ceuta resident, Karima Abenaz, a French national with family in Morocco, said it was heartbreaking to see young people and mothers with infants dying at sea over lack of opportunity, insisting people should demand change from their government rather than risk their lives crossing.

In response, Spain has reinforced police and military patrols and installed a 500-metre floating barrier off the coast. Twenty-two EU member states have jointly called for coordinated border protection measures, and Italy has suspended passport-free Schengen travel with Spain for one month. Spain, which has taken a more open migration stance than most EU peers including a program granting residency to over half a million undocumented people has rejected claims that the policy encouraged the Ceuta rush, noting that those who entered irregularly cannot travel onward into mainland Spain or the rest of the Schengen area.