The death toll in Spain's Ceuta border crisis with Morocco has risen to 67, the Spanish government said on Saturday. Some migrants drowned while others were killed in a stampede as they attempted to cross a breakwater barrier.
Between 50,000 and 60,000 migrants crossed into the tiny Spanish enclave between Thursday and Friday, prompting Spain to announce the installation of a 500-metre-long containment barrier along the breakwater fence extending into the sea, according to a report by the Associated Press.
A handful of exhausted migrants who swam to Ceuta's urban Tarajal beach on Saturday morning were met by soldiers, who escorted them back across the border. Spain's interior ministry said most of the migrants who entered the Spanish territory in North Africa have already returned to Morocco.
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After days of chaos and streets packed with people hoping for a better life in Spain, residents of Ceuta woke up to an uneasy calm on Saturday.
Even so, security remained a concern in the autonomous city of 84,000 residents.
"Life in this city has been disrupted as a result of the border incident," Ceuta President Juan Jesus Vivas said.
"The return of people has begun satisfactorily, but the process must be completed," he said, adding, "The city has not yet returned to normal."
At Tangier's main railway station in Morocco, exhausted migrants returning from Ceuta or hoping to reach the European Union slept on the ground as passersby watched from a distance.
"I tried to cross, but I failed," Abdalah, an aspiring migrant who asked that his last name not be published for fear of retaliation over his attempt to cross the border illegally, said. "I stayed near the border with Ceuta for two days, but I couldn't find anything to eat."
Many migrants, some of them barefoot, were seen walking towards the border fence on the road leading to the Moroccan town of Fnideq, which borders Ceuta, apparently hoping to try their luck.
Taxi drivers and bus operators refused to take them, fearing retaliation from the authorities.
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Police officers were deployed along the road, stopping and checking every vehicle heading towards Fnideq.
However, some migrants who had made it to Ceuta were determined to stay. One of them was 23-year-old Moroccan Mohamed Hatri.
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