Tens of thousands cross into Ceuta as Spain reports dozens of deaths

Ceuta's mayor-president, Juan Jesús Vivas, said around 60,000 undocumented migrants entered the Spanish exclave from Morocco in 24 hours. The death toll in that account rose to 57. Videos showed the Spanish Army moving military vehicles toward the border with Morocco. The surge was reported as a mass entry into a Spanish city on the North African coast.

Spain's interior ministry later said authorities had returned about 48,300 of roughly 50,000 migrants who entered Ceuta from Morocco. That accounting uses a lower entry figure than the mayor's 60,000. The two reports are both on record and are not presented as a single reconciled total. The return figure is about 48,300 people sent back.

Spain closed the Melilla border crossing after around 400 migrants stormed the barrier there. A Spanish public broadcaster reported the sound of gunfire and explosions. The next day, Moroccan security forces clashed with hundreds of migrants trying to storm Melilla. Several Moroccan security personnel were reportedly injured, and more than 50 migrants were detained.

French interior minister Laurent Nuñez ordered increased controls on the border with Spain, citing concern that people who entered Ceuta could travel onward to France. Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker and Finnish interior minister Mari Rantanen joined Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in calling for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen Area. Italy then suspended Schengen border-free travel with Spain, adding checks on air and sea passengers and strengthening controls with France.

By Sunday, Spanish officials said at least 72 people had died during the mass crossing from Morocco into Ceuta. That figure is higher than the toll of 57 reported when the surge was first counted. The later number is the death toll given by Spanish officials at the end of this week. It is attached to the crossing as a whole.

The reports do not give a full list of nationalities or ages of the dead. They do not state a single agreed count of entries that replaces both the mayor's figure and the ministry's figure. What they establish is a mass crossing into Ceuta, a parallel attempt at Melilla, returns of about 48,300 people, European calls to limit Schengen travel with Spain, an Italian suspension of that travel, and a death toll that officials put at least at 72.