Ceuta, Spain. A teenager reached Spanish territory through the waves, while her brother tragically drowned in the Mediterranean. Their mother vanished as crowds surged from Morocco.
The 17-year-old from Tangier embodies the hardship faced by over 800 minors following the mass migration to Ceuta. Speaking to an Associated Press photojournalist, she described joining a crowd attempting to swim past a border fence. Seeking better opportunities, she reached the shore but was separated from her mother, surviving alone for four days.
Locals offered her food and clothing, and one woman provided shelter for a bath. Seeking help at a government-run youth center, she found it overcrowded. Through a translator, she recounted grim scenes: “I saw people stepping on the dead.” She expressed the struggle of minors now begging on the streets.
On Monday, local officials reported around 860 minors stayed in Ceuta after the crossing. AP journalists observed other minors pleading for food. Among 3,000 to 5,000 migrants avoiding expulsion from Ceuta, these minors stand out within the initial 60,000 arrivals. Spanish authorities confirmed 72 water-related deaths, and Morocco reported 11 more, not included in the Spanish count.
Spanish law mandates care for migrant minors. An AP journalist witnessed Spanish soldiers escorting a crying Moroccan boy, stopped from being sent back due to public pressure and media presence. The Spanish Army transferred him to the Civil Guard.
Most Moroccan adults returned home voluntarily or were removed by Spanish police. Remaining migrants include those from countries such as Sudan, Gaza, Afghanistan, and African nations. The city’s migrant center, with a 600-person capacity, is full. Food scarcity persists as reported by AP journalists.
Local migration activist Ramsés Mohamed Azumik from Asociación Elín stated, “The strategy is that hunger, thirst, and exhaustion forces these people to finally decide to voluntarily return to Morocco.” Migrants rest on the beaches and hills, seeing mainland Europe as their ultimate goal across the sea.
Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.