Hundreds of African migrants stormed the border between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Friday, and two migrants drowned and 12 others were hospitalised, officials in both nations said.
The incident happened around 4.00 am (0300 GMT) near Benzu in the north of Ceuta with the migrants either scaling a barbed wire fence or swimming across to the Spanish city located on Africa’s northern coast. About 200 migrants tried to swim from Morocco into Ceuta, local authorities in northern Morocco told the state news agency MAP.
Moroccan authorities intercepted 104 would-be migrants and recovered two bodies in the waters near the border post, they added. The would-be migrants threw stones and used sticks against police, the agency said.
Red Cross volunteers in Ceuta treated 185 migrants who managed to get into the territory for injuries of different degrees, the organisation said in a statement.
Twelve of them needed to be taken to hospital to treat injuries such as fractured bones, hypothermia or symptoms of drowning, it added.