More than eighty migrants have reached the Spanish port city of Ceuta from Morocco by swimming. The migrants were arrested when they entered Spanish territory. The Spanish authorities report this.
The migrants, including several minors, had left at night from the beaches in Fnideq, a Moroccan town a few kilometers south of Ceuta. At least two families also managed to set foot on land with inflatable boats.
The Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla are the only land borders of the European Union with Africa. Attempts are regularly made to enter European territory in both areas.
Dangerous crossing
Some 246 people are said to have arrived in Ceuta and Melilla by April this year. That is 80 percent less than in 2020. About 1 in 100 people who risk the crossing will drown.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of 400 people have already died during the dangerous journey since the beginning of last year.
In total, some 6,676 migrants are said to have reached Spain along the coast this year. At the end of April, some 100 migrants had already swum from Morocco to Ceuta. Most of them were returned to Morocco.
