At least 57 migrants have died trying to enter the Spanish exclave of Ceuta after tens of thousands broke through the border, prompting heightened diplomatic tensions with Italy. <\/p>\n
In Ceuta, an increase in the number of migrants trying to reach the Spanish exclave had been observed for several days. Thursday proved critical, when over 49,000 people broke through the border, according to official estimates. It remains unclear what led to the sudden surge in movement. Migrants crossed the border by swimming around the breakwater, which serves as a maritime extension of the border barrier.<\/p>\n
Media outlets previously reported on several thousand people who made it onto Spanish territory. Ceuta itself has a population of just over 80,000 residents.<\/p>\n
The Spanish exclave in North Africa is surrounded by Moroccan territory. With barriers and breakwaters, the small town appears very close, but both Spanish and Moroccan authorities emphasize how dangerous attempts to cross the border are, according to the Info Migrants portal.<\/p>\n
Recent information provided by El Pais around 5:00 PM indicates that at least 57 people died while trying to reach Spanish territory. Their bodies were recovered from the water near the breakwater by Guardia Civil officers. The death toll may rise in the coming hours as search and rescue operations continue in the border waters, involving two diving teams consisting of eight officers from the Special Underwater Activities Group, the Spanish daily reports on its website.<\/p>\n
As Spanish media reported on Friday before noon, traffic at the border has reversed direction. Thousands of people returning home can now be seen on the Moroccan beach, while the last of those trying to reach Spain wade in the water. Significantly more people are leaving Ceuta than arriving, and the situation at the border appears to be returning to normal, El Pais reported.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, authorities in Madrid closed the border crossing with Morocco in Melilla, one of Spain’s two exclaves in North Africa. The head of local authorities in Melilla, Juan Jose Imbroda, estimated the number of illegal migrant arrivals\u2014both via the land border and by sea\u2014at around 300, or 400 at most. He noted that attempts to cross through both land and sea checkpoints were recorded. Imbroda also explained that what is happening in Melilla bears no comparison to the situation in Ceuta, highlighting the exemplary actions of law enforcement services.<\/p>\n
The government deployed troops to Ceuta, though the local authorities’ request to declare a state of emergency was rejected. The Ministry of the Interior explained that the law does not provide for the introduction of such a state in the event of migration crises. Spain and Morocco confirmed an agreement for the prompt repatriation of all individuals who crossed the border. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit Ceuta on Friday to speak about the migration crisis.<\/p>\n
Sources in the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted by RTVE, assured that current relations with Morocco are excellent and migration cooperation between the two countries is intensive. Both states agreed to jointly strengthen efforts to resolve the crisis.<\/p>\n
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated that her country will not stand by idly and announced extraordinary measures to defend borders and citizen security, including the suspension of the Schengen area regarding relations with Spain. Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stated that the decision to grant Spanish citizenship to over 500,000 migrants was deeply flawed and encourages human trafficking.<\/p>\n
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs summoned the Italian ambassador after the government in Rome announced it was considering suspending the Schengen area in relations with Spain. In response to these remarks, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced on platform X that the Italian ambassador in Madrid would be summoned to the ministry on Friday. This message is inappropriate for a foreign minister of a partner and friendly country from which we expect European solidarity rather than partisan demagogy, Albares added in response to Tajani’s post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 57 migrants have died trying to enter the Spanish exclave of Ceuta after tens of thousands broke through the border, prompting heightened diplomatic tensions with Italy. Surge in Migrant Crossings In Ceuta, an increase in the number of migrants trying to reach the Spanish exclave had been observed for several days. Thursday proved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-and-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}