Spanish enclave of Ceuta sees renewed border breach by migrants from Morocco

An estimated 350 immigrants forced their way into the Spanish North-African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in the early hours of Monday morning, local authorities and rescue services confirm.

The assault on the frontier which separates Ceuta from Morocco took place at around 4 a.m. local time in the midst of a storm, which complicated the work of security forces as high winds also activated the security alarms on the border, making it almost impossible to tell the true alarms from the false ones.

The Red Cross confirmed they attended two groups of immigrants, one around 300 and the other 50, which arrived in the town.

It said 11 of the immigrants needed to be taken to hospital, eight of whom were described as having suffered "injuries of different consideration and three with possible fractures."

This is the second successful attempt by immigrants to force their way into Ceuta, which is effectively European Union territory, in the last four days.

Friday saw border breach by 498 illegal immigrants, who later made their way to the Center for Temporary Immigrant Residency (CETI) in the town.

The arrival of the about 350 immigrants on Monday means there are now around 1,400 people in the CETI, which has a capacity to house just 512.

Data published by the European Border and Coastguard Agency (FRONTEX) on Wednesday confirmed around 1,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta and another Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2016, just 150 more than the number registered in the last four days. Endit