Moroccan Rights Group Turns to Facebook to Locate Missing Melilla Migrants

"We tried to contact the Nador hospital to verify certain images we received of presumed dead migrants. They refused to cooperate, saying that this information is related to the Ministry of the Interior," said Mohammed Amin Abidar, head of AMDH Nador, to The News Arab. "Everything concerning that day [of the massacre] is obscure," he added.

Faced with the silence of the Moroccan authorities, the association is investing in social networks, particularly Facebook, to carry out the search. "This is a young Sudanese named Mohammed Salah, one of the missing migrants during the massacre of Friday, June 24 in Nador. Please, anyone with information about him, call us so we can inform his family," it shared on its Facebook page with a photo of Mohammed Salah.

AMDH is looking for 58 missing migrants. "Desperate [migrant] families call us or contact us via Facebook to ask if their children are alive or dead," the head of the Nador association said, stating that many of the missing persons may be alive, but located 800 kilometers from Melilla where the tragedy occurred.

On June 24, while nearly 2,000 undocumented African migrants tried to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla, 37 of them died in clashes with Moroccan security forces. For its part, the Moroccan government claims that only 23 migrants died during the events. AMDH is expected to publish its official report on the tragedy on July 20.