Ceuta migrant crisis: 88 bodies in morgue, death toll could top 100 as arrivals overwhelm Spanish enclave

Mass arrival and breakwater crush

Between 50,000 and 60,000 people crossed into Ceuta illegally on 30 and 31 July, according to Spanish government and local executive estimates. Most arrived by swimming from neighbouring Morocco, many using little more than a buoy. A crush on the breakwater last Thursday left people trampled in a desperate push to reach the Spanish side. Not all deaths occurred in that incident; some bodies recovered from the sea show signs of longer immersion, as arrivals have been ongoing for more than two weeks.

I deeply lament the tragedy of these deaths on both sides of the border.

Death toll and overwhelmed services

The Spanish government’s delegate in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, confirmed 72 bodies had been pulled from Spanish waters near the El Tarajal pontoon. However, Ceuta president Juan Jesús Vivas told El País on Sunday that 88 bodies were in the city’s morgue. Other sources within the Ceuta executive put the number of bodies found in Spanish waters at 90, and warned the final toll could exceed 100. Morocco is also recovering bodies from the sea, but has not yet released a count. Among the dead are many adolescents, some women, and nationals of Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, according to funeral agency sources. Forensic services in Ceuta are completely overwhelmed by the unprecedented number of deaths.

Humanitarian and political reactions

Timóteo Macedo, president of the Portuguese association Solidariedade Imigrante, said many migrants were “with hunger and lack of social support” and urged Europe to send food and medicine. He accused politicians of instrumentalising the crisis.

There is a political instrumentalization; they are using immigrants, from a political point of view, to achieve certain less clear objectives with which we do not agree.

Macedo called the situation “proof of the failure of the policies of Fortress Europe,” arguing that far-right narratives have led governments to blame immigrants for social failures. He stressed that Spain, which has taken steps to regularise thousands of migrants, is now the stage for a crisis that exposes the EU’s passive stance.

Broader Mediterranean context

The Ceuta tragedy adds to a mounting death toll in the Mediterranean. In the first six months of 2026, 1,271 migrant deaths were recorded during crossings, according to the International Organization for Migration. The same organisation estimates another 1,500 “invisible shipwrecks”, deaths that leave no trace and are not counted in official statistics. Arrivals to Europe have fallen to 30,000 in the first five months of the year, according to Frontex, yet the fatality rate has risen.

Portuguese opinion columns reacted sharply. Observador described the events as “the price of a sovereignty dissolved by spoonfuls, in committees, directives and euphemisms,” while JN noted that “tens of thousands of people crossed the border between Morocco and Spain in two or three days, with the connivance (and even the push) of Moroccan authorities and the impotence of Spanish ones.” Both pieces criticised what they saw as a decade of postponed crisis management.

What happens next

Spanish police sources cited by EFE estimate that about 73,500 people who were illegally in Ceuta have left the city since Thursday, a figure that may include both recent arrivals and those already present. The vast majority of the new arrivals have returned to Morocco, as Ceuta, a city of just over 80,000 inhabitants, could offer little beyond another form of hardship. The Spanish government has yet to announce new measures, while calls grow for a coordinated European response.