CEUTA, Spain (AP) 鈥� The death toll in Spain鈥檚 Ceuta border crisis with Morocco has climbed to 67, the Spanish government said Saturday. They included some who drowned and some who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier.
Spain announced it was installing a 500-meter-long containment barrier along the breakwater fence into the sea after some 60,000 migrants breached the tiny Spanish territory鈥檚 frontier between Thursday and Friday.
A handful of exhausted migrants who swam to Ceuta’s urban Tarajal beach Saturday morning were met by soldiers who escorted them back across the border. Spain’s interior ministry says the majority of those who entered the Spanish territory in North Africa have already returned to Morocco.
After days of chaos and streets packed with people who had hoped for a better life in Spain, residents of Ceuta woke up Saturday to an uneasy calm.
Even so, security for residents of the autonomous city of 84,000 remained bruised.
鈥淟ife in this city has been disrupted as a result of the border incident,鈥� said Ceuta鈥檚 President Juan Jesus Vivas.
鈥淭he return of people has begun satisfactorily but the process must be completed,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he city has not yet returned to normal.鈥�
Some determined migrants, however, remained in Ceuta. Among them was Mohamed Hatri, a 23-year-old Moroccan.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e closed everything down so that we can鈥檛 buy anything to eat, to force us to return to our country,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut even if they close it down 鈥� we鈥檙e round to stay here, whether we鈥檙e hungry or not.鈥�
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