Tragedy in Morocco: Four Migrants Die in Sewer Attempting to Reach Spanish Enclave

Alerted, the rescue services discovered three people drowned in the sewage canal and rescued a young man still alive, who then died at the hospital, reports 24 heures, specifying that the Moroccan authorities have opened an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.

Since the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta are the only land borders between Africa and Europe, they are the subject of close surveillance, in order to thwart any attempt to cross the high fences that separate them from Morocco.

The closure since March of these border crossings, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is plunging the neighboring Moroccan regions, which live on border trade, into crisis, the site notes.

Due to the Spanish government’s determination to discourage illegal crossings, the flow of migrants on the Spanish coasts has generally decreased by half in the first eight months of 2020, according to the European agency Frontex, specifying that Algerians now account for two-thirds of the arrivals, ahead of Moroccans and sub-Saharans.