The Spanish prime minister on Saturday described a deadly migrant rush on the enclave of Melilla from Morocco as an attack on Spain’s “territorial integrity,” as human rights activists demanded an investigation into the incident.
At least 23 African migrants died in the latest drama on the doors of the European Union, when around 2,000 mostly sub-Saharan African migrants approached the Moroccan border with the tiny territory at dawn on Friday.
More than 500 people managed to enter a border control area after cutting a fence with shears, Melilla authorities said in a statement.
Moroccan officials on Friday said 18 migrants had died during the rush or succumbed to their injuries, some of which came from falling from the top of the barrier.
On Saturday, they revised the toll upwards to 23.
More than 20 migrants and two security force personnel remained in the hospital due to injuries on Saturday in the cities of Nador and nearby Oujda, officials said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the incident was a “violent and organized attack by mafias who traffic in human beings against a Spanish territory.”
But Morocco’s AMDH human rights group said it was “a true catastrophe that shows the consequences of the latest Moroccan-Spanish entente,” just weeks after the two sides resolved a year-long diplomatic rift.
The death toll is by far the worst recorded in years of attempts by migrants to cross into Melilla, one of Spain’s North African enclaves.
The enclave is notable in that it has the EU’s only land borders on the African continent.
Migrant children are seen chatting to each other after their arrival at the Port of Malaga, Spain on Wednesday. Spain’s Maritime Rescue service rescued 176 migrants aboard dinghies at the Mediterranean Sea and brought them to Malaga Harbour where they were assisted by the Spanish Red Cross. Photo: IC
