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corridorUkraine's idle ports cost $1.75bn as farm exports fallFormer Chinese premier Zhu Rongji diesAt least 20 killed in communal clashes in central NigeriaIran accuses Qatar of holding three of its pilotsXi calls for shift to prevention as floods batter ChinaVenezuela frees 131 more political prisonersMore Syrians in Germany lose refugee protectionAudit finds gaps in Taiwan's counter-drone defencesIndia drafts rules to open nuclear power to private firmsHichilema takes early lead as Zambian count resumesParis prosecutors open investigation into tax portal hackReport details leverage behind Situational Awareness lossesArgentina has lost 30,633 companies under MileiAt least five dead in Indiana floodingIran detains two French diplomats over alleged infiltrationCanadian petition to expel US ambassador passes 170,000 signaturesIndia raises $50bn from its diaspora and ends swap facility earlyOpaque start-ups build erotic AI industry from Cyprus and MaltaBritain's biggest EV battery plant shelves expansion as Jaguar Land Rover talks stallThird drone debris find in a day on Turkish coastsForecasters put 95 percent odds on a very strong El NiñoSecondhand booksellers suspect AI firms behind bulk ordersEtna alert lowered as Catania airport reopensFuneral held for Indigenous girl whose death sparked outback riots
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Symbolic image: Death toll in Ceuta rises to 67 as EU convenes emergency meetingSymbolic image

Death toll in Ceuta rises to 67 as EU convenes emergency meeting

17 sources

The number of people who drowned trying to reach Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta has risen to 67. EU interior ministers will meet in an extraordinary session on Tuesday.

What happened

  • Some 50,000 people, mostly young Moroccans, entered Ceuta on Thursday, 30 July; the enclave has 84,000 residents.
  • Spain's interior minister put the number of drowned at 67 at a press conference on Saturday.
  • More than 48,000 went back to Morocco voluntarily on Friday; no new arrivals came overnight into Saturday.
  • Spain began installing a 500-metre floating barrier in the sea off the border crossing on Saturday.
  • Italy imposed one-month entry checks on non-EU travellers arriving from Spain by plane or ship.

The view from outside

The Jerusalem Post, citing New York Times reporting, says Moroccan police urged migrants gathered at the border to cross, with one interviewed man recalling officers telling him "Come to Spain". The paper also documents far-right and far-left accounts online blaming Israel for the crossing, using a seven-year-old post by Yair Netanyahu as purported proof.

What could happen next

  • EU ambassadors meet on Monday, interior ministers on Tuesday, on support for Spain and coordination at the external border.
  • Any Moroccan police role stays unconfirmed; Madrid says no intelligence indicated an imminent mass entry.
  • Spain's opposition demands the interior minister's resignation over the late response while the government was fighting wildfires.
  • Madrid attributes the rush partly to smuggling networks misreading a Supreme Court ruling on returns at sea.
How the camps see it

  • Spain: Madrid calls the crossing an attack on Spain's territorial integrity, defends Morocco as a reliable partner and accuses some EU governments of acting on prejudice and false reports in breach of European law.

  • Italy, Denmark and co-signatories: Rome introduced month-long checks on travellers from Spain and, with Copenhagen and Berlin among 22 governments, demanded an EU ministers' meeting on aid to Spain and external border control.

Also involved

EU institutions

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