The families of 18 young Moroccan believed to have died at sea while attempting to reach Spain rallied today in front of an official building in Kasbah Tadla in the Beni-Mellal province in Central Morocco to demand the return of the bodies of their loved ones.
In tears, the families pleaded with authorities to manage the recovery of their children’s bodies. “We want to recover the bodies of our offspring so we can bury them and visit their tombs from time to time, that’s the only way we are going to feel good,” said one of the victims’ mothers.
Another woman pleaded with King Mohammed VI and local authorities to recover the body of her “educated daughter,” who she said had “applied for many jobs, but in vain,” before deciding to attempt to cross to Spain.
Aged between 17 and 27 years old, the 18 young Moroccans are believed to have died on August 28 while trying to cross the Atlantic sea on a boat.
They all come from Kasbah Tadla and were planning to reach Europe through the Atlantic, but their boat capsized leaving 18 dead.
The tragic incident sparked a crackdown on irregular migration networks, with subsequent operations resulting in the arrest of several irregular migrants and the rescue of drifting boats.
With its geogrpahic position making it a gateway to Europe from Africa, Morocco has intensified security measures to combat human trafficking operations.
The country’s security services have prevented over 14,000 Spain-bound irregular migration attempts, and dismantled over 5,000 trafficking operations and rescued over 80,500 migrants at sea.
In 2020, police detained 466 suspects associated with 123 human trafficking networks.
They also prevented 9,179 Europe-bound irregular migrants, including 6,162 foreign nationals, from leaving Morocco.
