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Photos: Death and despair as African migrants arrive in Spain

More than 8,000 people climbed around border fences and swam from Morocco to the Spanish-governed enclave of Ceuta.

Spanish soldiers clash with migrants near the border of Morocco and Spain, at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
Published On 24 May 202124 May 2021
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After beaches in Greece, Italy and elsewhere, a fleck of Spanish territory on the northern coast of Africa this week became the latest deadly flashpoint in Europe’s battle to stem migration flows from less fortunate regions of the world wracked by conflict, poverty and other miseries.

In an unprecedented flow that overwhelmed Spanish authorities, more than 8,000 people climbed around border fences and swam from Morocco to the Spanish-governed enclave of Ceuta.

Spanish authorities recovered two bodies from the waves, both young men from Morocco.

Some swimmers knelt in prayer before wading from Moroccan beaches into the Mediterranean, hoping to make land in Ceuta and, from there, make new lives in mainland Europe.

Some swam with packages of belongings. Weaker swimmers struggled in the waves and marine currents.

A barefoot swimmer reached Ceuta seemingly so exhausted that he could not immediately drag himself from the surf. He lay face down, grimacing, his right hand clutching the wet sand. The man later embraced a Spanish Red Cross worker who comforted him.

Other migrants piled on board flimsy boats. One small craft with 14 young men packed tightly on board floated dangerously low in the water. They used empty bottles to bail it out. Another man swam along behind, clutching the stern.

Rushed in to plug the holes in the porous border through which people streamed, Spanish troops in flak jackets and with long truncheons rounded up young men in Bermuda shorts, tracksuits and football jerseys bearing the names of the sport’s biggest stars.

Soldiers chased after migrants and refugees in sandals and flimsy shoes. At night, alleyways in Ceuta echoed with the sounds of people running and hiding.

On the Moroccan side, more young men streamed towards Ceuta on well-trodden paths through tall, flowering shrubs.

Posted along a towering border fence, Spanish soldiers watched through the mesh as migrants gathered on the other side, on a boulder-strewn seafront and arid hills overlooking Ceuta.

Spanish forces rained tear gas canisters onto the swelling crowds, the acrid smoke trailing curly white plumes.

A migrant is comforted by a member of the Spanish Red Cross near the border of Morocco and Spain. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
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Spanish soldiers expel a migrant from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
Unaccompanied minors who crossed into Spain are gathered outside a warehouse used as temporary shelter as they wait to be tested for COVID-19 at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
Social services for the small city perched on an outcropping in the Mediterranean buckled under the strain after more than 8,000 people crossed into Spanish territory during the previous two days. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
People climb a fence at the border of Morocco and Spain, outside the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. [Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP Photo]
Spanish Army and Guardia Civil officers take positions next to the border of Morocco and Spain. [Javier Fergo/AP Photo]
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A man lies on the ground on the beach after swimming to the area at the border of Morocco and Spain. [Javier Fergo/AP Photo]
A Spanish civil guard waits for migrants to arrive at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Spanish officials are acknowledging for the first time that the unprecedented migrant crisis was triggered by an angry Rabat at Madrid's decision to provide medical treatment to a Western Sahara independence leader. Rabat regards Western Sahara as part of Morocco. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
A teenage boy puts his arms out of a small window
Children who crossed into Spain wait inside a temporary shelter for unaccompanied minors in the enclave of Ceuta. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
The body of a young man is covered with an emergency blanket after being recovered by Spanish police from waters near the border between Morocco and Ceuta. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]
Ceuta residents and migrants perform funeral prayers for a Moroccan teenager in the Muslim cemetery in Ceuta. The young man died on Monday trying to swim across the border from Morocco to Spain's North Africa enclave with thousands of other migrants and refugees. [Bernat Armangue/AP Photo]


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