Credit: Faro TV
A migrant has died after trying to paraglide his way from Morocco to Ceuta.
Spanish officers said they saw a paraglider flying from the Benzú mountains near the Moroccan border on Friday morning, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
While attempting to land near Ceuta’s northern border, the man reportedly lost control of his paraglider and fell into the sea. Officers from the civil guard recovered his body.
There have been warnings that migrants are planning another mass crossing into Spain 10 days after they stormed Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in north Africa.
The civil guard said that migrants had made several attempts to reach Ceuta and Melilla, a Spanish territory 140 miles to the east, also on the Mediterranean coast, using the lightweight, foot-launched device in the past few years.
In 2022, witnesses reported seeing a paraglider from Morocco fly over the border fence into Melilla. Video footage appeared to show the person land near a road that runs along the border fence that spans eight miles and stands up to 33ft high. Police were unable to locate the migrant.
Beginning on July 29, an estimated 78,000 migrants crossed over from Morocco to Ceuta within a few days, in a surge that overwhelmed local authorities and required the mobilisation of the Spanish army.
Thousands of migrants made the crossing by swimming around breakwater border fences, while others crossed on foot along the shoreline or by boat.
At least 100 people died in their attempt to make the crossing, either by drowning or after being crushed to death by the crowds.
It led to diplomatic spats and deepened existing tensions between countries.
Following the Ceuta migrant surge, Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, called for Spain to be suspended from the visa-free Schengen travel zone. Ms Meloni has long criticised the progressive migration policies of Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister.
On Friday, Spain announced reciprocal border controls on Italian travellers in direct response to Italy’s decision to enforce air and sea border controls on Spanish citizens that began on Aug 1.
Spanish police check the documents of arrivals from Italy – Reuters
In response to Spain’s retaliatory border controls announcement, Italian officials refused to back down from their punitive border measure, saying: “Only when we are certain that there will be no security or terrorist risks for Italy, that there will be no new wave, and that there are no irregular migrants heading towards European territory.”
It added: “Italy does not accept ultimatums or impositions from abroad about national security and border control.”
Some Spanish officials and intelligence reports seen by The Telegraph accuse Morocco of facilitating the migrant surge, in retaliation for Mr Sánchez’s recent rapprochement with Algeria.
Algeria and Morocco have been in a decades-long dispute over the western Sahara, which was administered by Spain until 1975.
Morocco claims sovereignty over the territory, while Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front in western Sahara.
In 2022, Mr Sánchez broke with Madrid’s decades-long neutrality stance and expressed support for Morocco, drawing the ire of Algeria and resulting in a four-year freeze-out.
On July 20, however, Mr Sánchez angered Morocco after visiting Algiers to restore ties and discuss gas, energy and investment partnerships.
Morocco has denied accusations it helped facilitate the border crossing.
