At Least 18 Dead as Thousands Cross into Spain from Morocco

At least 18 migrants have died as thousands attempted to reach the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco.

Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast.

A police source told AFP on Friday that it was impossible to estimate how many crossed overnight after thousands of migrants poured into the country.

“There was a steady stream of people all night long,” and while arrivals were lower than during the day, migrants “continued to arrive overnight and are still arriving” on Friday morning, the source said.

Reports of migrants leaving for the Spanish exclave, mainly by swimming, began emerging on Wednesday.

On Thursday, video footage showed crowds, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads. While most appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and little children.

Most of the 18 died by drowning, with others killed in the stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, Rachid Sbihi, head of the local workers association representing Civil Guard officers, said.

It is unclear what has prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta. Spain’s ​interior ministry ‌⁠estimates ​some ​49,000 migrants had crossed ​into Ceuta ⁠over the ​past ​24 ⁠hours, as ​they ​rushed ⁠by sea and ⁠land ​from ​Morocco.

Spain’s government said it would send the military to help the civil guard “maintain security in the city of Ceuta”.

Photos showed Spanish soldiers patrol near the Spanish-Moroccan border in the exclave with armoured tanks after the announcement.

The government said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would also join Fernando Grande-Marlaska, interior minister, in a visit to Ceuta today.