MADRID (AP) — The latest developments as tens of thousands of people flee to Europe in search of asylum. All times local.
4:40 p.m.
Spain’s Red Cross is detailing the injuries of 12 people it transferred to receive medical treatment at Ceuta’s University Hospital after they tried to swim from Morocco to Spain and then scale a border fence.
Two people were recovering from near-drowning, another had an open leg fracture, and most of the rest had deep cuts, some that required stitches.
The rescue service said it had distributed clothes and shoes to 185 migrants who had arrived in Spain either by scaling the border fence or swimming to try and get around all or part of it.
___
3:25 p.m.
Moroccan and Spanish news agencies say over 200 migrants tried swim to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta and although 180 made it, two drowned, 12 were injured and others were intercepted were before reaching Spanish soil.
The Moroccan state news service MAP says several Moroccan officers were injured by sticks and stones from the migrants and police have opened an investigation.
Spanish television broadcaster TVE showed images of Red Cross ambulances attending to and feeding dozens of migrants. The Africans were covered in red towels, next to a 9-meter (30-feet) high-barbed wire fence that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea at Ceuta’s western border with Morocco.
The International Organization for Migration says more than 1 million people have entered Europe this year, driven out of their homelands by war, poverty or persecution.
__
2:25 p.m.
Moroccan and Spanish news agencies say over 200 migrants tried to swim to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta and although 180 made it, two drowned, 12 were injured and others intercepted were before reaching Spanish soil.
Citing local government sources, the Morocco state news service MAP says the migrants made the swim at around 2 a.m. but 104 were stopped by Moroccan forces.
Spanish state broadcaster TVE showed images of migrants being helped by rescue services in Spain and reported that around 180 were believed to have come ashore and that some had climbed onto a border fence.
Thousands of African migrants try to enter the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla each year hoping to reach a better life in Europe. Spain says 15 drowned trying to reach Ceuta last year.
