I'd rather die than go back, Moroccan migrant boy tells Spanish soldier

A Moroccan boy swims using bottles as a float, near the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border, after thousands of migrants swam across the border, in Ceuta, Spain, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File photo

A Moroccan boy who used empty plastic bottles to swim to Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta this week said he would rather die than go back to Morocco, according to the Spanish soldier who translated for him before he was escorted away.

The boy attracted international media attention as he floated in a dark T-shirt with the bottles under his clothes and attached to his arms, crying as he reached the beach only to be led away by soldiers.

Rachid Mohamed al Messaoui, 25, a soldier of the group number 54 of the Regulars soldiers of Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, assists a Moroccan boy who used empty plastic bottles as a float to swim to Ceuta, on El Tarajal beach, near the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border, after thousands of migrants swam across the border, in Ceuta, Spain, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

"He didn't want to go back, he didn't have any family in Morocco, he didn't care if he died from cold; He preferred to die ... than go back to Morocco," soldier Rachid Mohamed al Messaoui said.

"I never heard that from someone so young," the 25-year-old told Reuters, speaking on the beach.

Soldiers accompanied the crying boy through the gate to the security zone between the two countries, along with other migrants. An army spokesman in Ceuta said he had no information on what happened to the boy.

Rachid Mohamed al Messaoui, 25, a soldier of the group number 54 of the Regulars soldiers of Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, poses for a photograph on the El Tarajal beach near the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border, where thousands of migrants swam across the border, in Ceuta, Spain, May 20, 2021. On May 19th, Al Messaoui and his mates helped a Moroccan boy who used empty plastic bottles as a float to swim to Ceuta. "He didn't want to go back, he didn't have any family in Morocco, he didn't care if he died from cold, he preferred to die ... than go back to Morocco," al Messaoui told Reuters. "I never heard that from someone so young." REUTERS/Jon Nazca

Deporting minors is illegal in Spain and hundreds have been processed in a makeshift reception centre in Ceuta.

The boy was one of some 8,000 migrants who swam or climbed over a border fence into the enclave this week after Rabat relaxed border controls. Spain has deployed troops to Ceuta to patrol the border with Morocco and called the situation a crisis for Europe.

On the northern tip of Morocco across from Gibraltar and with a population of 80,000, the enclave's beaches are only a few hundred metres (yards) away.

Rachid Mohamed al Messaoui, 25, a soldier of the group number 54 of the Regulars soldiers of Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, walks with a Moroccan boy who used empty plastic bottles as a float to swim to Ceuta, on El Tarajal beach, near the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border, after thousands of migrants swam across the border, in Ceuta, Spain, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File photo

Al Messaoui, who speaks Moroccan Arabic, or Darija, said he tried to put his feelings to one side to help calm those arriving on the beach, acting as a translator for his Spanish army colleagues.

"You feel frustrated, desperate that you can't do more for that boy," he said.

Asked what he would tell the parents of young Moroccans eager to cross over to Ceuta, he said: "Not to let them go, to be with them, and to be united as a family even if there are difficulties of life in their country... not to let them drift away alone, desperate, helpless."

Rachid Mohamed al Messaoui, 25, a soldier of the group number 54 of the Regulars soldiers of Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, assists a Moroccan boy who used empty plastic bottles as a float to swim to Ceuta, on El Tarajal beach, near the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border, after thousands of migrants swam across the border, in Ceuta, Spain, May 19, 2021. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

(Open in an external browser to see a picture story of the Moroccan migrant boy and the soldier on the beach)

(Writing by Robin Emmott, editing by Andrei Khalip and John Stonestreet)