Death Toll from Migrant Wave in Spain's Ceuta Rises to 77

The influx of tens of thousands of migrants entering illegally from Morocco into Ceuta, Spain, has claimed lives. To date, 77 people have died as a result of the incident.

Reported by AFP on Wednesday (5/8/2026), local officials said the death toll had risen from the previously reported figure of 75.

Many migrants drowned whilst attempting to swim past the barrier in the Mediterranean Sea since 30 July, in an event that has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Spain and its EU partners.

The Spanish legal body responsible for identification work, comprising forensic experts and the Civil Guard, said in a statement that authorities in Ceuta have recovered 79 bodies from the sea.

However, two of them were retrieved on 29 July and early on 30 July, before the migrant wave occurred, bringing the death toll linked to the migrant surge to 77.

Forensic experts have carried out 77 autopsies and identified two individuals already registered in Spain through their fingerprints.

Spain said 70,000 of the 72,000 migrants who reached Ceuta have returned to Morocco.

Those still remaining face squalid living conditions with limited access to shelter, food, water and sanitation, as reported by AFP journalists in Ceuta.