Ceuta migrant disaster death toll rises to 141, Morocco’s deadliest in recent history
GCC News
At least 141 people died after Moroccan authorities opened the border gates into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, triggering what appears to be Morocco’s deadliest migration disaster in recent history.
Migrant rights organisation Caminando Fronteras said hospitals in northern Morocco had received 63 bodies recovered from Moroccan waters by Tuesday. The Moroccan government has not officially confirmed this.
Spanish officials told Cadena SER that authorities had found another 78 bodies in Spanish waters. The overall toll has therefore reached 141, far exceeding previous disasters along Morocco’s borders with Spain.
Regional Impact
The 2022 Melilla border crush killed at least 23 people, according to the official toll, while rights groups recorded 37 deaths. Fifteen people died at Ceuta’s Tarajal beach in 2014.
Tens of thousands of people entered Ceuta, Spain’s North African territory, through the Tarajal crossing after Moroccan authorities opened the gates on Thursday.
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Moroccan hospitals in Tetouan, Tangier, Fnideq and M’diq are holding the bodies. Most victims were Moroccan men aged between 20 and 30. Sub-Saharan Africans, women and children were also among the dead.
Spanish authorities have invoked the “multiple victims” protocol normally reserved for mass-casualty disasters such as train crashes and aviation accidents.
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