Rabat - A woman died Monday in a stampede at the border crossing point of Bab Sebta (north of Morocco), M'diq-Fnideq’s local authorities said.
Rabat – A woman died Monday in a stampede at the border crossing point of Bab Sebta (north of Morocco), M’diq-Fnideq’s local authorities said.
The victim, who fainted following a stampede at one of the entrance gates of the Bab Sebta crossing point, was transferred to Fnideq’s hospital where she died despite first-aid, according to the same source.
An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the incident.
This incident occurs less than a month after the death of a “mule woman”, trampled on by a jostling mass in the same passage. The victim died four days later in a hospital in Tetouan.
Sebta’s authorities had renovated the former border post at the end of February, notably to improve the working conditions of cargo holders to Morocco, the vast majority of whom are women. They also announced a reinforcement of the control measures, in particular the weight and dimensions of the parcels worn by day laborers, and the establishment of a maximum quota of 4,000 carriers per day.
These measures did not, however, solve the problem and the opening of the new crossing point was marked by a lot of hustle, necessitating repeated intervention by the police. Faced with this situation, the border post was closed again for a week, before reopening in mid-March.
Thousands of Moroccan women cross this border post every day to sell their goods in Morocco and provide for themselves. Often, they carry up to 70 kilos and make several round trips during the day and are sometimes treated like cattle.
In November, the Association for Human Rights in Andalusia (APDHA) denounced the situation of the “bearers” of Ceuta, estimated at nearly 7,000, who carry weights of 60 to 90 kilos on their backs for 100 dirhams per day, and suffer daily humiliations and degrading treatments.
