At least 72 people have died attempting to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after a mass rush of migrants from Morocco last week, officials said Sunday, as five more bodies were found along the North African coast. Moroccan authorities separately report 11 deaths.
Spanish authorities said around 60,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Morocco, though The Guardian estimated the number at 50,000. More than 48,000 migrants returned to Morocco within 48 hours, with further returns over the weekend, and calm has returned to the enclave.
The crisis has triggered a political firestorm in Spain, where the far right has seized on the incident to attack Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's immigration policy. EU countries have also criticized Spain's handling of the situation.
Some analysts see the crossings as more than a humanitarian emergency, arguing that the scale and timing reflect deliberate geopolitical signalling by Morocco toward Spain. According to Antoni Vives, policy analyst and former Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, the crisis cannot be understood solely as a spontaneous wave of migration but must be seen within the context of colonial legacies, economic inequalities and regional power competition between Morocco and Algeria.