Spain has said that migrant crossings into its North African territory of Ceuta stopped overnight, as police began installing a 500-metre floating barrier off its border with Morocco.
It comes after around 60,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta by land and sea from Thursday, in an unprecedented surge at one of the European Union's only land borders with Africa.
At least 67 people died in the attempt, according to Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
More than 48,000 migrants have returned to Morocco within 48 hours without major incident, Spain said.
Reuters footage showed Spanish soldiers and police patrolling a mostly empty Tarajal beach shrouded in fog.
Watch: Spain installs floating sea barrier in Ceuta
Civil Guard police started laying the new barrier at 7.50am local time on the Tarajal breakwater, one of the main points used by people trying to enter the tiny Spanish territory, the government said in a statement.
The pneumatic barrier, alongside a line of anchored naval buoys, is designed to stand 30 to 70 centimetres above water and extend as much as one metre below the surface, it added, while 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 social media rumours.
EU governments call for emergency meeting
Ceuta and Spain's other North African territory, Melilla, sit on Morocco's Mediterranean coast and periodically face attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe.
The latest attempt caused division in the EU, with several countries calling for Spain to ensure that the incident was contained.
The meeting of the EU's integrated political crisis response team, and a separate planned meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday, was sought by Ireland as part of its EU presidency role.
The decision to seek both meetings is a clear ratcheting up of concern over the situation in Ceuta, and what implications it may have both for Spain and the EU's wider migration rules.
In a post on social media yesterday evening, Minister for Justice O'Callaghan said he sought today's meeting to help Spanish officials address what happened in Ceuta in recent days.
I will remain in close contact with the Spanish Government, Member States and the EU institutions as the situation evolves.
— Jim O'Callaghan TD (@OCallaghanJim) July 31, 2026Schengen pressureMadrid said the people who entered Ceuta irregularly could not travel onwards to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.
In a statement, the Spanish foreign ministry added that travellers leaving Ceuta by sea or air undergo police identity checks, representing a second layer of control after the land border with Morocco.
In contrast to most of Europe, Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants, introducing a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
But it has rejected suggestions that the regularisation scheme had encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying applicants must prove residence in Spain before 1 January 2026, and five continuous months of residence when applying.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who visited Ceuta yesterday, described the crossings as a violation of Spain's territorial sovereignty and said returns were being accelerated with Moroccan cooperation.
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Additional reporting Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
