50K migrants make deadly rush into Spain from Morocco

Now, Spain is trying to defuse the migrant crisis in its tiny territory in North Africa.The Spanish government says an estimated 50 ,000 people crossed over from Morocco to Quetta in a single day.Local officials say at least 34 people died, most by drowning, as crowds came across by land and sea on Thursday.Just take a look at these extraordinary images.I mean, Soweto now juts out into the sea from Morocco and has long been a target for migrants trying to reach Europe.Here's a look.

We saw a look at the chaotic scenes there.It's unclear what caused the sudden rush.Spain's prime minister suggesting it was fuelled by a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling on migrants arriving by sea.The surge is already deepening divisions over migration in Europe.The crowds, mostly made up of young men, celebrated as they entered Spanish territory.Take a listen to what one young man was saying.

We're happy to be here.It's been a very tough experience to go from the ocean.It was very tough.The police officers tried to stop us, but our will and our determination, we could come here.

Sina, it's Nada Bashir joining us now live from London.And Nada, I mean, we've seen significant numbers of migrants cross over into Soweto before, but nothing like this.60 ,000 migrants, I believe, in just a matter of hours.What are you learning about the reasons for this surge that we've seen?

Well, the settling was unprecedented and you could see that in how overwhelmed Spain's border guards and officials were in responding to this current situation.Officials on Thursday calling for the Spanish government to declare a state of emergency and the government itself deploying additional troops.traffickers a European leaders with regards to the security of Europe's coastal shores.We've been hearing, for example, from the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgio Meloni, who has threatened, in her words, to take extraordinary measures, potentially, including excluding Spain from the visa -free Schengen travel zone if the situation is not handled.France's interior minister has also said that France is stepping up its security on the border with Spain.But at this stage, the Spanish government has said that they have maintained communication with the Moroccan government authorities.

that the communication has been smooth.And important to note, the Spanish government has said that already they believe around 25 ,000 of those migrants have returned back to Morocco, and they expect that figure to rise.Cristina?

Extraordinary and incredible pictures, images that we've been seeing.Nada Bashir, thank you very much.Let's bring in Judith Sunderland.She is the Senior Associate Director in the Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.Judith, thank you so much for joining us.Firstly, just because the numbers here are so staggering, I just want to get your understanding of why so many migrants chose to make this crossing in just a matter of hours.

Right.Well, at this point, we can really only speculate as to how this came about.It is a very significant number of people, and that obviously poses enormous challenges for a very small, autonomous city and for Spain in general.And we are going to be monitoring very carefully the response going forward.But it is Again, it's difficult to, well, it's impossible to know exactly why.Obviously, there are always people who are eager to cross irregularly, either because they need to seek asylum or because they see it as their only option to improve their lives.

And so a number of these people saw an opportunity, were told there was an opportunity perhaps, and perhaps there was some facilitation.Again, it's very hard to say, but the numbers are unprecedented.And I'm sure many of youtrying to figure out exactly what allowed this to happen.

And our reporter earlier was saying that there may have been a lot of human trafficking involved in this, which could also account for those numbers.But Spain says it's been working very closely with Morocco to ensure the safe return of people as soon as possible.And as we were saying just now, I mean, thousands apparently are returning of their own free will.What do you make of how the Spanish authorities are handling this?

Well, the first thing to say is that the borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco have long been sites of violence and of summary collective expulsions, all of which is unlawful and violates the rights of people trying to reach Spain.We have not seen that so far, as far as we've been able to ascertain, and that is a good thing.We know that Spain is saying that they will be setting up a temporary reception facility to try to process those who remain.And we hope that that process does allow for proper individual assessments as Spain is obligated to perform before they return anyone to Morocco.And we hope that in all of this, the messaging and the handling of the situation in Ceuta is such as to minimize the risk of xenophobic reactions by the local population or any kind of extreme tensions given the situation.Judith, thank you for your reaction to this.