Ceuta buries 18 unidentified migrants after border crisis with Morocco

Three weeks after the mass arrival from Morocco, 18 unidentified migrants have been buried in numbered graves in Ceuta, as a Moroccan NGO urges a halt to burials to identify and repatriate the bodies. A total of 18 migrants were buried on Friday in the Muslim cemetery in Ceuta, three weeks after the border crisis that left more than 90 people dead and led to more than 72,000 people entering the autonomous city from Morocco. The bodies, all of them men, were laid to rest without having been identified. Their graves are marked only with numbers to allow possible identification later if relatives come forward to claim them, interim cemetery director Said Mohammed told AP. During the burial, a Muslim cleric recited prayers while funeral workers placed the bodies, wrapped in white bags, in the graves and covered them with earth. The deceased are among the victims of the mass arrival of migrants recorded in Ceuta at the end of July, considered the deadliest incident so far on Spain's border. Many of the victims drowned or died in a stampede as they tried to cross a breakwater near one of the border crossings. More migrants are expected to be buried in the coming days. A Moroccan NGO calls for burials to be halted The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has called for burials in Ceuta to be suspended until every possibility of identifying the victims and returning their bodies to Morocco has been exhausted, the country of origin of most of those who took part in the mass crossing. The organisation urged the Moroccan Foreign Ministry to ensure that "the bodies are returned to the families so they can be buried with dignity". The NGO described the burials in Ceuta as a "new human tragedy" that adds to the "disaster of displacement and missing people". A spokesperson for the Ceuta city government said last week that the procedures needed to repatriate the bodies had already been completed, but that Morocco had not accepted them. The Moroccan Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions from Associated Press about the burials that began on Friday or about claims that Rabat is blocking the repatriation of the bodies of migrants who have already been identified. Thousands of migrants still in Ceuta Most of the more than 72,000 people who crossed into Ceuta at the end of July returned to Morocco almost immediately. However, thousands remain in the city, prolonging a humanitarian crisis that is testing the authorities' capacity to provide shelter and assistance. The figures vary depending on the authority. Local officials estimate that up to 10,000 migrants, including women and children, may still be in Ceuta, while Spain's central government puts the number at around 5,000. Spanish and Moroccan authorities have blamed the mass arrival on rumours spread on social media and on people-smuggling networks. Migrants themselves, meanwhile, have pointed to unemployment and low wages as among the reasons that drove them to try to cross the border. At the Muslim cemetery, the 18 men buried on Friday were laid to rest according to Islamic rite, with their bodies oriented towards Mecca. The numbered stones identifying each grave will make it possible to locate the remains if relatives come forward in future to claim the victims.