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Spain announced it was installing a 500-metre-long (1,600-foot) containment barrier on the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and neighbouring Morocco after between 50,000 and 60,000 migrants breached the frontier earlier this week. The death toll has climbed to 67, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, the Spanish government said Saturday. A handful of exhausted migrants who swam to Ceuta's urban Tarajal beach Saturday morning were met by soldiers who escorted them back across the border. Spain's interior ministry says the majority of those who entered the Spanish territory in North Africa have already returned to Morocco. "We are relentless against those who break the law," Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told journalists in Ceuta on Saturday. Questioned how this massive border breach could have happened given the heavy security on both sides of the border and whether Morocco pose
Spain will deploy its military to restore order at its border with Morocco in Ceuta after thousands of migrants streamed into the tiny Spanish territory, with at least nine dying in the attempt. The announcement comes after local authorities in Ceuta had asked the central government in Madrid for reinforcements to manage a border crisis that had been building up before boiling over on Thursday with large crowds of people breeching the border fence. Spain's government said Thursday evening it would send the Armed Forces to help the Civil Guard "to maintain security in the city of Ceuta." It also announced that Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would join Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and visit Ceuta Friday. "The situation is absolute chaos," Rachid Sbihi, head of the association that represents Spain's Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, who police the border told The Associated Press. "It's not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing
Massive forest fires forced the evacuation of some 200,000 people in southwestern France and central Spain, with residents fleeing towns near Madrid and Bordeaux as the flames raged out of control. Firefighters and authorities in both European countries on Friday were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fuelled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change. Firefighters in Spain admitted the fires were so fast and violent that they could not be tackled head on. Some people even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France's Atlantic coast. Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In central Spain, 60,000 were forced from their homes, according to the Spanish interior ministry. Dozens of French firefighters were injured, authorities said, but no deaths were reported in either country despite the scenes of panic as townsfolk fled by car and police went d
A wildfire roared through a remote expat community in southern Spain overnight, killing at least 12 people as victims tried to flee the flames in cars and on foot, authorities said Friday. Eight people were injured, and 23 missing, Andalusia's regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said. The blaze, one of Spain's deadliest wildfires, broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains in Almeria province, as the country has been dealing with soaring temperatures. Most of the victims died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, said Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia's emergency services. Some tried to escape via a dry riverbed that "turned into a death trap," he said. Four victims were believed to be British nationals because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said. Other unspecified nationals also were believed to be among the dead, and the death toll was expected to rise,