Spain installs floating barrier off Ceuta after deadly migrant crossings

Spain has installed a 500-metre (1,640-foot) containment barrier along its sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and Morocco following a sudden rush of migrants that left at least 67 dead.

Civil Guard officers began work early Saturday at the Tarajal breakwater, a stretch of coast heavily used during the recent migrant crossings, a surge Spain called a violation of its sovereignty.
Authorities say “virtually all” of the estimated 60,000 migrants who stormed Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta since Thursday have already left voluntarily, returning to Morocco. Twenty-two European Union governments have demanded an emergency response.

The death toll from crossings was raised to at least 67 on Saturday, but Spanish officials said there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side of the border. Some of the victims drowned, while others were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence.
“Virtually all those who entered Ceuta have now returned to Morocco,” Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares wrote on X late Friday.

The mass influx of migrants had dismayed EU governments, and particularly those in the Schengen area — 29 countries that have abolished border controls for travel between them.

The EU said it would hold a video meeting on Tuesday after 22 bloc members issued a joint open letter on Saturday calling for a meeting of interior ministers “as a matter of urgency” to agree a speedy coordinated response, and to “prevent further uncontrolled crossings”.
Ireland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said it would convene the meeting on Tuesday of ⁠the EU Justice ⁠and Home Affairs ⁠Council, chaired by Irish Justice, Home Affairs ‌and Migration Minister Jim O’Callaghan.