Ceuta leader says 100 migrants died in border rush

Ceuta's leader Juan Jesus Vivas told EU lawmakers at the European Parliament on Thursday that some 100 people had died during last week's border surge.

He also said the city was still reeling from the event and now dealing with unaccompanied migrant minors who remain in Ceuta.

Vivas called the situation "unsustainable," and pleaded for government help.

His visit to Brussels comes a week after some 72,000 migrants rushed through the border between Morocco and Spain's North African territory of Ceuta.

The incident caused a spat between several EU countries and Madrid, with Italy suspending the Schengen free-travel pact with Spain.

On Wednesday, Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras said some 141 people had died on July 30, with 63 bodies found in Morocco and 78 in Ceuta. 

The Spanish government said that nearly all of the migrants had returned to Morocco, but Vivas noted that between 3,000 and ‌5,000 migrants were ⁠still in Ceuta.

Vivas also said Ceuta lacked the security resources necessary to deal with the situation.

"Security forces have not been deployed with the intensity required by the situation ⁠we are still facing," he told a European Parliament committee.

"Immigration services have not ⁠been sufficiently reinforced to ⁠handle the border rejections," he added.