Two female porters die in crush at Spain's Ceuta frontier with Morocco

MADRID, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Two Moroccan women died on Monday morning in a crush at the frontier between Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta with Morocco, both Spanish and Moroccan police confirmed.

The two women, reportedly around 40-year old and from northern Morocco's Fnideq, were working as porters carrying goods into the enclave, when the crush involving hundreds of people happened at around 5:30 a.m. local time.

Authorities say the crush took place on a hill closest to the Moroccan frontier post of Bab Sebta.

This is the point where authorities separate porters entering Ceuta from domestic workers going into the city, with porters entering the Spanish territory through the Tarajal II pedestrian crossing point and other workers using a different crossing.

Since last summer, women have been allowed to carry goods into Ceuta every Monday and Wednesday, while men permitted to do so on Tuesday and Thursday.

This measure with an aim to reduce the number of people attempting to enter the city at the same time was introduced after several women were crushed to death in similar circumstances in 2016.

Despite the measure, long queues of both people and vehicles are still reported by Spanish media. Hundreds of people usually wait during the night for the opportunity to take their goods into Ceuta in the early hours of the morning when the frontier opens, according to the reports. Enditem