MADRID, Spain: Authorities are continuing to search the sea off Ceuta for the bodies of people who may have drowned during the rush of tens of thousands of migrants into the Spanish exclave in North Africa, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
Spanish state broadcaster RTVE reported today that the Guardia Civil police force was combing the waters off the coast.
So far, 67 bodies have been recovered from the sea. They died while attempting to reach European Union (EU) territory by swimming from Morocco.
Spanish newspaper El País quoted an anonymous police officer as saying that “there are more dead in the sea”.
Local authorities are preparing a facility capable of accommodating up to 200 bodies, according to the report.
Some 50,000 migrants had entered Ceuta from Morocco by Friday, arriving in the territory of some 85,000 people within only a few days.
Spanish authorities said most of the migrants have since voluntarily returned to Morocco, but several EU leaders have nevertheless sharply criticised the left-wing government in Madrid over its handling of the crisis.
Television footage of the coast off Ceuta showed a calm situation today, with an RTVE reporter on the ground reporting that no attempts to reach the exclave by sea were currently evident.
All that could be seen were a few workers who, according to the broadcaster, were busy installing buoys to form a physical barrier.
By creating this physical barrier at sea, Spain also aims to close a loophole created by a ruling of the Spanish Supreme Court, which appears to have played a role in the recent migrant surge.
The court had ruled that people who enter Spain by crossing the border irregularly via an unfortified section, such as the sea, are entitled to an individual asylum assessment. – BERNAMA-dpa
