Spain said migrant crossings into its North African enclave of Ceuta had come to a halt overnight as authorities on Saturday began installing a 500-meter (1,640-foot) floating barrier along the border with Morocco following a mass crossing that left at least 67 people dead.
Spanish authorities said about 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea beginning Thursday in an unprecedented surge at one of the European Union's only land borders with Africa.
More than 48,000 of those migrants were returned to Morocco within 48 hours without major incident, officials said.
Reuters footage from Saturday showed Spanish soldiers and police patrolling the largely deserted Tarajal Beach, where thick fog blanketed the shoreline.
The Civil Guard began installing the floating barrier at 7:50 a.m. (5.50 a.m. GMT) along the Tarajal breakwater, one of the main entry points used by migrants attempting to reach the small Spanish enclave, according to a government statement.
The pneumatic barrier, together with a line of anchored naval buoys, is designed to stand 30 to 70 centimeters (12 to 28 inches) above the water and extend as much as 1 meter below the surface, the statement said.
A channel between the barriers will allow Civil Guard vessels to patrol the area.
At least 67 bodies have been recovered on the Spanish side of the frontier, officials said, after some migrants drowned and others were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater and border fence.
Many were driven to migrate by economic hardship and encouraged by rumors spread on social media.
EU governments call for emergency meeting
Ceuta and Spain's other North African enclave, Melilla, sit on Morocco's Mediterranean coast and periodically face attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe.
The latest attempt caused division within the EU, with several countries calling on Spain to ensure the situation was contained.
Twenty-two EU governments called on Saturday for an emergency meeting of interior ministers over the Ceuta crisis, urging the bloc to help Madrid regain control of its border with Morocco.
Meanwhile, Spain's center-left Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also asked EU leaders to convene interior ministers urgently but criticized governments that had called for Spain's exclusion from the passport-free Schengen area.
Italy's right-wing government announced Friday that it was suspending Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month.
"In the current international context, the EU cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarizing and unlawful reaction," Sanchez wrote.
In a letter to Ireland, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, the 22 governments said the crossings challenged the EU's external frontier and risked encouraging further illegal migration.
They called for a coordinated response, including possible additional support from the EU border agency Frontex and a review of cooperation with Morocco. France, Luxembourg and Portugal did not sign the letter, nor did Spain and Ireland.
Schengen pressure
Madrid said people who entered Ceuta irregularly could not travel onward to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen area.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said travelers leaving Ceuta by sea or air undergo police identity checks, providing a second layer of control after the land border with Morocco.
Unlike much of Europe, Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants, introducing a program to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
However, the government rejected suggestions that the regularization program had encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying applicants must prove they had lived in Spain before Jan. 1, 2026, and have maintained five consecutive months of residence at the time of application.
Sanchez, who visited Ceuta on Friday, described the crossings as a violation of Spain's territorial sovereignty and said returns were being accelerated with Morocco's cooperation.