Spain’s Ceuta buries migrants who died during mass border crossing

The burial of migrants who died during a mass attempt to cross into the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta on the African coast of the Mediterranean has begun, with many of the bodies still unidentified.

Local authorities are said to be preparing to bury 83 migrants, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

Medical and forensic teams “managed to identify only a limited number of victims, despite fingerprinting and DNA testing involving families on the Moroccan side.”

Moroccan nationals are expected to be buried in a Muslim cemetery, while migrants from sub-Saharan African countries will be buried in a Catholic cemetery. Authorities expect to bury eight to nine victims each day who died during the mass attempt to illegally cross into Ceuta in late July and early August.

Lakome news agency reported that the classification of some unidentified bodies has raised questions, as “in some cases, the main argument was skin colour, used to distinguish the bodies of presumably missing Moroccans from those of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries before burying them in the cemetery designated for each group.”

Estimates of the number of people who died during the migration crisis in Ceuta vary widely, reflecting significant discrepancies between official figures and estimates by human rights organisations and local sources.

Moroccan authorities confirmed 11 deaths, while the non-governmental human rights organisation Caminando Fronteras said at least 141 migrants died while attempting to reach the autonomous city.

In late July, tens of thousands of migrants managed to reach Ceuta by swimming and wading around the breakwater separating the autonomous city from Morocco.

The vast majority are believed to have already returned to Morocco, although Spanish authorities estimate that around 5,000 people may still remain in the city.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov