Rabat – Two Moroccan women died while others suffered injuries on Monday after a stampede at one of the entrance gates of the Ceuta’s crossing border.
The dead women were aged 32 and 43 years old respectively and are originally from Fnideq and Martil, two Moroccan cities situated in the Tangier-Tetouan region. The women died in an ambulance as they were being taken to the hospital.
The injured women were transferred to the Hassan II hospital in Fnideq to receive the
necessary medical care.
This is the third accident of its kind in Ceuta’s crossing border in 2017. The first death occurred on March 28, when a woman tragically lost her life in a stampede, while the second incident happened on April 24, when a 50-year-old woman died under the same circumstances.
In June, Spanish authorities made an agreement with the Moroccan government to prevent the so-called human mules from passing through Ceuta’s El Tajaral II crossing on the same day.
Consequently, women are allowed to cross the border only on Mondays and Wednesdays,
while men will be permitted on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The decision was taken after Moroccan authorities asked Ceuta’s government to help decrease pedestrian traffic at the border, reported local news Ceuta Actualidad.
In the same month, Spanish Parliament discussed a suggestion made by Podemos Party to improve the working conditions of Ceuta and Melilla’s “human mules.”
The party had suggested the law to guarantee the dignity and rights of so-called “mules,”
especially Moroccan women, who travel back and forth carrying goods on their backs weighing up to 90 kilograms, between Morocco and the autonomous cities of Melilla and Ceuta.
