Spanish soldiers watch migrants sitting on the pavement prior to escorting them back to Morocco, in Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave on August 1, 2026. At least 67 people have died in a recent surge of migrant crossings from Morocco to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, Spain’s Interior Minister said today. Most of the 60,000 migrants who entered Ceuta over the space of a few days from neighbouring Morocco have already returned to Morocco. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP)
Thousands of people turned back from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and returned to Morocco’s Fnideq began boarding buses home on Friday, with the operation continuing on Saturday, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
A Moroccan source close to the operation told AFP on condition of anonymity that the people sent back by Spain are to be transported home directly by bus or via the railway station in Tangier, 70 kilometres (45 miles) away.
According to the source, the Fnideq border crossing is now “completely secure”, as are the hills overlooking it, from which hundreds of people, mostly young men, had thrown stones at security forces on Friday.
The Spanish government announced on Friday evening that at least 48,000 of the 60,000 people who entered Ceuta in recent days had returned to Morocco.
