(Al Jazeera Media Network) Spain says “virtually all” of the estimated 60,000 migrants who stormed its North African enclave of Ceuta by land and sea in recent days have already left again voluntarily, as European nations plan to hold a meeting to coordinate their response to the crisis.
The number of people who had died trying to enter Ceuta was raised to at least 67 on Saturday, Spanish officials said, adding there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side of the border. Some of the confirmed dead had drowned, and some were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence.
“Virtually all those who entered Ceuta have now returned to Morocco,” Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, wrote on X on Friday night.
The mass influx of migrants had dismayed European Union governments, and particularly those in the Schengen area – 29 countries that have abolished border controls for travel between them.
The EU said it will hold a video meeting on Tuesday after 22 bloc members issued a joint open letter on Saturday calling for a meeting of interior ministers “as a matter of urgency” to agree a speedy coordinated response, and to “prevent further uncontrolled crossings”.
Denmark and Italy had spearheaded the letter. Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said on Saturday it had convened a meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, chaired by Irish Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Minister Jim O’Callaghan.