Spain secures Ceuta border with floating barrier after mass crossings and 67 deaths

Spain has announced a 500-metre-long containment barrier on the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and neighbouring Morocco after between 50,000 and 60,000 migrants breached the frontier earlier this week. The Spanish government said on Saturday that the death toll had risen to 67, including people who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede while trying to cross a breakwater barrier.

Spain's interior ministry said most of those who entered Ceuta had already returned to Morocco. On Saturday morning, a handful of exhausted migrants who swam to Ceuta's urban Tarajal beach were met by soldiers, who escorted them back across the border.

Speaking to journalists in Ceuta, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said, "We are relentless against those who break the law." Asked how such a large border breach could happen despite heavy security on both sides, and whether Morocco posed a threat to Ceuta, he defended the government in Rabat. "The events require an evaluation by Spain and Morocco," he said, adding that cooperation with its neighbours allowed Spain "to revert the situation in 24 hours." He also said, "Morocco is not a threat to Ceuta, or to the rest of Spain. It is a reliable partner."