Greater than 50 youngsters swim from Morocco to Spanish enclave of Ceuta

Madrid
Reuters
 — 

At least 54 youngsters and about 30 adults swam from Morocco to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta in tough seas and fog, Spanish tv reported on Saturday.

Video footage on Spanish tv channel RTVE confirmed Civil Guard launches making repeated rescue makes an attempt to convey a number of the swimmers to security, whereas others swam throughout to the enclave.

The youngsters, who had been largely Moroccan, had been taken to short-term facilities in Ceuta, the place authorities known as for assist from the central authorities in coping with the newest arrivals.

“Don’t leave us alone. This is a matter of state. This has to be resolved,” Juan Rivas of the Ceuta regional authorities advised reporters on Saturday.

On August 26 final yr, tons of of migrants took benefit of a thick mist to swim to Ceuta from neighboring Morocco, native police mentioned. In 2021, one boy was seen floating on empty plastic bottles in his try to succeed in Ceuta.

Spain’s two enclaves on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the European Union’s solely land borders with Africa. The enclaves sporadically expertise waves of tried crossings by migrants making an attempt to succeed in Europe.

Moroccan nationals detained through the crossings are instantly despatched again to Morocco except they’re underage or in search of asylum.

People from different nationalities are taken to particular facilities the place they’re given shelter and launched after a number of days.

Three years in the past, at the least 23 folks died in a stampede when about 2,000 migrants tried to storm into Melilla, pushing down the border fence.