Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Two hundred Migrants attempted to jump the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Sunday.
One of the migrants died of a heart attack, local Spanish authorities said in a statement, reported I24.
“Unfortunately, one of the migrants died… it seems from a cardiopulmonary arrest,” according to the statement.
Spanish authorities said that 300 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to climb the fence on Sunday. Only 200 migrants managed to reach Spain, while 100 failed their attempt.
In July, at least 600 migrants crossed the border from Morocco to the Spanish enclave Ceuta.
Read Also: Melilla: 86 Unaccompanied Minors Entered Melilla from Morocco in August
In order to jump the fence, migrants picked the weakest point of the border, a section with blind spots. The border is double-fenced with a length of 8.4 kilometers and a height of six meters. To break the fence, migrants used shears and threw quicklime at security agents.
Sunday’s incident took place amid a massive flood of migrants toward Europe in recent months.
The situation puts Morocco and Spain under unprecedented pressure. Both countries have been calling on the EU to intervene and provide financial assistant to help Morocco face migration challenges.
At a press briefing on October 15, European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini said: “We have seen a 150% increase in migration flows on the western Mediterranean route this year, and we have decided to strengthen our actions to curb these flows, especially with Morocco.”
The announcement came a month after Khalid Zerouali, Morocco’s director of immigration and border surveillance, gave an interview regarding an increase in irregular immigration attempts.
The Moroccan official said that Morocco had aborted nearly 65,000 migration attempts annually since 2016.
