Young migrant dies falling into sea while paragliding into Ceuta from Morocco

Incident on Friday morning

On Friday, 7 August 2026, at approximately 8:00 AM, Guardia Civil surveillance systems detected a person attempting to cross into Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the North African coast, from the mountains of Benzú in the northern bay, near the border with Morocco. The individual was using a paraglider to attempt what authorities described as an illegal entry. The young migrant of sub-Saharan origin intended to land in an area close to the northern border, but according to preliminary findings, he lost control of the apparatus and fell into the sea in the vicinity of the Benzú breakwater during the manoeuvre.

A rescue device was immediately activated, with patrols from the Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil dispatched to the area to rescue the young man. Upon locating him in the water, agents found the migrant in cardiorespiratory arrest. Officers of the Instituto Armado, as the Guardia Civil is formally known, performed resuscitation manoeuvres at the scene, but it was ultimately not possible to save his life and his death was confirmed. The response teams had initially rushed to the location believing the young man might still be alive, but arrived to find him already deceased.

First fatality of its kind

After the body was recovered from the water, it was transferred to the base of the Maritime Service, located at the fishing port of Ceuta, where it remained at the disposal of the judicial authority for the practice of an autopsy. The Guardia Civil has opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances in which the accident occurred. Sources from the Instituto Armado, cited by EFE and Europa Press, confirmed that this is the first death registered in Spain of a person attempting to access the country through the use of a paraglider. Previous paraglider crossing attempts had resulted in accidents but no fatalities.

A growing method of attempted entry

The Guardia Civil has noted that sub-Saharan migrants have been making isolated entry attempts using this method, especially since last year. Guardia Civil sources, cited by EFE, described the attempts as sporadic. Several accidents have already been recorded due to the migrants' limited knowledge of how to operate this type of equipment, but Friday's incident was the first with a fatal outcome. Paragliding is classified as an extreme aerial sport in which the pilot flies with a flexible wing, typically launching from an elevated location and using air currents to glide.

Ceuta's migration crisis

According to estimates by the Spanish government, approximately 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta during the recent migration crisis, of which about 70,000 returned to Morocco. Radio RNE recalled that 141 deaths have been confirmed among people who attempted to enter Ceuta, with the vast majority drowning. The migration crisis in Ceuta shook the Schengen Agreement, the 1985 accord on the free movement of persons that currently encompasses 29 European countries.