AT LEAST 141 DIE AFTER MOROCCO OPENS CEUTA BORDER GATES

At least 141 people died following the opening of border gates into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta by Moroccan authorities on 30 July. According to migrant rights organisation Caminando Fronteras, hospitals in northern Morocco received 63 bodies recovered from Moroccan waters by Tuesday. Spanish officials told media outlets that authorities had found a further 78 bodies in Spanish waters. The Moroccan government has not officially confirmed these figures. Spanish authorities invoked the "multiple victims" protocol typically reserved for mass-casualty disasters such as train crashes and aviation accidents.

About 72,000 people crossed into Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, according to Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The death toll far exceeds previous migration-related incidents at Morocco's borders with Spain: the 2022 Melilla border crush killed at least 23 people according to official figures, though rights groups recorded 37 deaths, whilst 15 people died at Ceuta's Tarajal beach in 2014. Most victims were Moroccan men aged between 20 and 30, though Sub-Saharan Africans, women and children were also among the dead. Bodies are being held in hospitals in Tetouan, Tangier, Fnideq and M'diq.

Spain has since returned approximately 70,000 people to Morocco, whilst an estimated 1,000 unaccompanied children remain in Ceuta. Anger has grown in Morocco over the decision to open the border and the absence of accountability. The mother of Moroccan footballer Faten Ben Omar El Azizi, who died during the crossing, publicly questioned who authorised the border opening. The European Union praised Spain's "swift response" to the incident.