At least 72 people died during last week’s mass influx of migrants into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, when tens of thousands crossed the border from Morocco, mostly by swimming, local officials said on Sunday.
The government’s delegate to Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez Triano, confirmed the updated figure to reporters when asked about fatalities from the crossing. “The latest figure that we have is 72,” he said. The toll had previously stood at 67.
Most of the estimated 60,000 people who entered the Spanish territory in north Africa have since returned to Morocco, following what officials describe as the largest mass migrant crossing the enclave has experienced.
Spanish police and troops patrolled the streets of Ceuta on Sunday as the territory returned to normal in the aftermath of the surge. Only small groups of migrants remained, with most of those who breached the border barrier having gone back to Morocco voluntarily within 48 hours.
The crossing has triggered an international crisis for Madrid, drawing criticism from European partners over Spain’s immigration policies.
Near Ceuta port, Spanish soldiers detained a group of nine migrants sitting on the pavement outside a housing project, guarded by troops and an armoured vehicle, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. Small inflatable boats from a rescue unit patrolled the waters around the border barrier, which extends into the Mediterranean Sea and is now reinforced by a new 500-metre (1,640-foot) floating boom.
Civil Guard officers were also seen removing migrants from a bus to escort them back to the border post for return to Morocco.
Spanish authorities have blamed criminal gangs for spreading rumours that a recent ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court on immigration would ease migrants’ passage into the country — rumours believed to have helped trigger the rush across the border.