Death toll in Spain-Morocco border crisis in Ceuta reaches 67

Spanish army and Guardia Civil officers take positions next to the border of Morocco and Spain, at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta

THE death toll in Spain’s Ceuta border crisis with Morocco has climbed to 67, the Spanish Government confirmed on 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-metre-long containment barrier along the breakwater fence into the sea after some 60,000 people breached the Spanish territory’s frontier between Thursday and Friday.

A handful of exhausted people who swam to Ceuta’s urban Tarajal beach on 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.

The streets of Ceuta were packed over the last few days with people who had hoped for a better life in Spain.

Some people who made the crossing have remained in Ceuta. Among them was Mohamed Hatri, a 23-year-old Moroccan.

A member of the Moroccan security forces stands guard as people attempt to cross to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta (AP)

“They’ve closed everything down so that we can’t buy anything to eat, to force us to return to our country,” he said.

“But even if they close it down … we’re round to stay here, whether we’re hungry or not.”