Moroccan authorities said late on Friday that 18 migrants had died, some from falling from a high fence while others were crushed after what they called a stampede, as over 2,000 invaders attempted to break into Spain.
Some 2,000 migrants stormed the enclave fence to break into Spanish territory, sparking two hours of violent clashes with security forces and border guards, Spanish and Moroccan authorities said, in which scores were also injured.
One video clip shared by AMDH showed the aftermath of the attempted invasion, with a large number of African migrants lying closely piled together, their bodies overlapping, many motionless and a few making feeble gestures, with Moroccan security forces standing over them in riot gear.
Moroccan authorities said 140 members of the Moroccan security forces were also injured, five seriously in clashes with the mainly male Sub-Saharan African migrants.
A spokesman for the Spanish government in Melilla said no one had died on the Spanish side of the border, where 57 migrants and 49 police officers were injured.
A reported 130-strong group of invaders made it through to the other side and are now roaming Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday blamed “mafia” people traffickers for the violent and fatal border incursion.
“It was an attack on the territorial integrity of our country,” Sanchez told a news conference in Madrid.