Ceuta, Spain (EFE).- More than 800 Moroccan and Algerian migrants attempted to swim to the Spanish city of Ceuta in North Africa, where most were intercepted by Moroccan patrol boats, on Wednesday.
Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service rescued over 300 people, and two bodies were found at sea.
The migrants set out from Castillejos, the Moroccan coastline closest to Ceuta, in an attempt to swim to the Spanish city’s shore.
Most of the migrants were young adults aged 18 to 30, as well as many minors, though the exact number has not been officially confirmed.
The Maritime Rescue Service and the Spanish Red Cross rescued 117 people from the water. In addition, the Civil Guard assisted approximately 200 people with patrol boats.
Morocco deployed up to three maritime units to help the remaining migrants who were unable to reach the Spanish coast.
According to sources from Maritime Rescue who spoke to EFE, the Salvamar Atria unit collaborated with the Civil Guard to address the recent migration emergency.
Over the course of several hours, the Civil Guard found two migrant bodies, who might have attempted to swim into the city in recent days.
These discoveries bring the total number of migrant deaths along the Ceuta coastline in 2026 to 29, 10 of whom were found in July (six of whom were found since the current migration crisis began on Saturday).
Another consequence of the crisis is overcrowding at the CETI, a temporary reception center. According to data from local authorities, over 1,500 people have entered the Spanish city in North Africa by swimming across illegally in just over a week, not counting Wednesday’s arrivals.
The CETI has a maximum capacity of 512 beds, already filled.
While migrant arrivals in Spain decreased in the first half of 2026 compared to 2025, they increased on certain routes, including the maritime route to the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and land and swimming crossings to Ceuta and Melilla, the other Spanish city in North Africa.
In Ceuta and Melilla, which border Morocco, there was a 140% increase in land arrivals from Jan. 1 through Jul. 15, 2026, reaching 2,991.
In Ceuta specifically, the number of migrants arriving by land rose to 2,826, a 149.4% increase compared to 2025.EFE
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