Desperate migrants continue to die while attempting to swim to the Spanish territory of Melilla from Morocco, according to a report issued on May 2.

The humanitarian group Solidarity Wheels, based in Melilla, released the report and noted that many of those dying are minors whose bodies have been recovered on the Moroccan coasts of Beni Ensar and those of the Spanish enclave itself in the first quarter of the year.

The NGO called for urgent measures to halt the migrant deaths.

Victims mostly Moroccan minors

According to the survey conducted by the NGO, at least 32 corpses were recovered in the first three months of the year. They came upon this number using International Organization for Migration (IOM) data as well as information gathered by the Moroccan human rights association AMDH, the Moroccan website Hawamichi and the Melilla website El Faro, as well as from online work with other human rights organizations.

Those attempting the route, which requires some eight hours of swimming in adverse conditions, are young and mostly Moroccan minors.

They often try it at night, hoping they will not be spotted by security forces patrolling the sea on both sides of the southern border of Europe.

Tighter security and lack of rescue protocols

Solidary Wheels noted that a "massacre" of migrants occurred in June 2022 on the land border of Melilla, when at least 24 people died trying to climb over the border barrier.

Human rights NGOs say that overall at least 37 died and 150 went missing.

Since then, the Melilla-based NGO said, the number of security forces and gendarme patrolling the border has risen substantially.

Additionally, after a 2019 agreement between Morocco and Spain, the strengthening of ground barriers and 'intelligent' electronic systems for border control, alongside an increase in prices of up to 10,000 euros imposed on human smugglers for a spot on a boat, many migrants are left with no other choice than to try to swim to the enclave, risking their lives, the NGO said.

"Immediate repatriations, disappearances at sea, and deaths at sea are constant due to a lack of rescue protocols and training of the forces who should be implementing them," said Solidarity Wheels.

In particular, the NGO spoke out against the immediate deportation of minors and asylum seekers intercepted in Spanish territorial waters, "in violation of the regulations in place and with total impunity for the security forces" that carry out these pushbacks.