Hundreds of migrants swim from Morocco to the Spanish territory of Ceuta

BARCELONA, Spain — Hundreds of migrants are swimming from Morocco to the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta on the nation’s northern tip, overwhelming border safety, native authorities stated Wednesday.

While good climate often brings a surge in migrant crossings by sea in the summer, Ceuta authorities stated the present variety of swimmers is uncommon.

“In the last few days, more than 1,500 migrants, including adults and minors, have reached Ceuta by sea,” the chief of Ceuta’s authorities, Juan Jesús Vivas, advised journalists. “The reception centers are collapsed and saturated.”

Vivas stated migrants beforehand died within the try, with 60 our bodies being noticed at sea within the final yr.

Spain’s inside ministry, which oversees borders and tracks irregular migration, wouldn’t affirm the variety of crossings or say what number of migrants had reached the territory by swimming. It referred journalists to its bimonthly migration report, with the subsequent one anticipated on Aug. 3.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in an interview with Spanish tv channel laSexta, acknowledged authorities have been dealing with “an extraordinary, exceptional situation.” He asserted that “we are dealing with it with the means that we already have deployed there permanently.”

Spain’s Civil Guard, maritime Rescue Services and even the Red Cross have been utilizing boats to select up swimmers earlier than taking them to Ceuta. Hundreds of migrants are actually sleeping exterior a migrant reception middle that’s over capability.

Those trying the crossing are primarily Moroccans, together with a small variety of Algerians who had been residing in Morocco whereas attempting emigrate to Europe, based on activists in Morocco and Ceuta.

It was not clear what prompted so many migrants to swim to Ceuta.

Vivas lamented a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that earlier this month established that migrants who arrive by sea can’t be instantly pushed again throughout the border with out due course of, in contrast to those that cross into Spain by land — by climbing over the border fence, for instance.

But some activists together with Omar Naji, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in Eastern Morocco, expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge. Most Moroccans would have been unaware of such authorized choices, he stated.

The timing of the crossing, occurring after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune final week, reminded Naji of the border crisis of May 2021 when greater than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in simply two days.

At the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and permitting migrants to cross into the enclave after Spain allowed Polisario Front chief Brahim Ghali to obtain medical therapy at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic disaster between Rabat and Madrid. The pro-independence Polisario Front for many years has claimed to be the professional consultant of the indigenous Sahrawi individuals of disputed Western Sahara.

On Wednesday, Spain’s inside minister praised Moroccan authorities, saying they have been cooperating and that the connection with the dominion was “close and based on loyalty.”

“They are also limiting irregular departures,” he advised laSexta.

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AP journalist Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.