Ceuta: Most who breached border have left, Spain says
Skip next section Most migrants return but Ceuta still on edge as death toll climbs to 72 Between 50,000 and 60,000 mostly male migrants broke
Skip next section Most migrants return but Ceuta still on edge as death toll climbs to 72 Between 50,000 and 60,000 mostly male migrants broke into Ceuta this week Image: Henry Nicholls/AFP Relative calm had returned to Ceuta on Sunday, but the city remained on edge following the deadly border rush. Local officials have warned that the city's recovery has just begun, while right-wing politicians are blaming the Socialist government in Madrid for chaotic scenes that unfolded this week in the Spanish North African exclave.
Spanish Civil Guard ships were searching the waters around the city on Sunday for more bodies after between 50,000 and 60,000 migrants breached the border with Morocco. Nearly all of them had walked back to the Moroccan side of the border by Sunday, according to officials in Ceuta, normally home to around 84,000 people. At least 72 people died during the crush on Thursday and Friday, the Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, said.
Some drowned, while others were killed in a stampede at a breakwater barrier and a border fence. Perez added that medical services have treated more than 1,000 people. He said while the situation in the exclave had improved
significantly, work remained to be done for the city to return to normal. On Saturday, authorities installed a 500-meter (1,600-foot) floating barrier in the waters off Ceuta to boost border security, as well as reinforcing police and army patrols.
The BriefWire