BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Hundreds of migrants are swimming from Morocco to the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta at the country’s northern tip, overwhelming border security, local authorities said Wednesday.
While good weather usually brings a surge in migrant crossings by sea in the summer, Ceuta authorities said the current number of swimmers is unusual.
“In the last few days, more than 1,500 migrants, including adults and minors, have reached Ceuta by sea,” the leader of Ceuta’s government, Juan Jesús Vivas, told journalists. “The reception centers are collapsed and saturated.”
Vivas said migrants previously died in the attempt, with 60 bodies being spotted at sea in the last year.
Spain’s interior ministry, which oversees borders and tracks irregular migration, would not confirm the number of crossings or say how many migrants had reached the territory by swimming. It referred journalists to its bimonthly migration report, with the next one expected on Aug. 3.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in an interview with Spanish television channel laSexta, acknowledged authorities were facing “an extraordinary, exceptional situation.” He asserted that “we are dealing with it with the means that we already have deployed there permanently.”
Spain’s Civil Guard, maritime Rescue Services and even the Red Cross have been using boats to pick up swimmers before taking them to Ceuta. Hundreds of migrants are now sleeping outside a migrant reception center that is over capacity.
Those attempting the crossing are mainly Moroccans, along with a small number of Algerians who had been living in Morocco while trying to migrate to Europe, according to activists in Morocco and Ceuta.
It was not clear what prompted so many migrants to swim to Ceuta.
Vivas lamented a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that earlier this month established that migrants who arrive by sea cannot be immediately pushed back across the border without due process, unlike those who cross into Spain by land — by climbing over the border fence, for example.
But some activists including Omar Naji, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in Eastern Morocco, expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge. Most Moroccans would have been unaware of such legal decisions, he said.
The timing of the crossing, occurring after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last week, reminded Naji of the border crisis of May 2021 when more than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in just two days.
At the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and allowing migrants to cross into the enclave after Spain allowed Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali to receive medical treatment at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid. The pro-independence Polisario Front for decades has claimed to be the legitimate representative of the indigenous Sahrawi people of disputed Western Sahara.
On Wednesday, Spain’s interior minister praised Moroccan authorities, saying they were cooperating and that the relationship with the kingdom was “close and based on loyalty.”
“They are also limiting irregular departures,” he told laSexta.
AP journalist Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.
FILE - Moroccan men fish on the Moroccan side of the border with Spain, as seen from the district of Benzu in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, June 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Rasmus Dahlin arrived in Buffalo for the start of training camp with a clear head and a refreshed objective following the shortest summer break of his nine-year NHL career.
This is a far different place for the Sabres captain to be than a year ago, when Dahlin was dealing with the emotional weight of his fiancée requiring life-saving heart transplant surgery in Europe and facing familiar questions regarding Buffalo’s NHL-record 14-season playoff drought.
A year later, Carolina Matovac is healthy and rejoined Dahlin in Buffalo in March. The drought is a thing of the past: The Sabres clinched their first Atlantic Division title and won their first playoff series since 2007 before losing to Montreal in Game 7 in the second round.
“Night and day. I can actually focus on hockey and not have to worry every day of what’s going on,” Dahlin said. “I’m ready to go.”
Don’t confuse his readiness for satisfaction. Having enjoyed his first taste of the postseason, the 26-year-old Swede is hungry for more.
“Last year was hard. This year is going to be harder,” Dahlin said. “We have higher expectations on ourselves and higher expectations around the league. We’re not the same old Sabres any more in other teams’ eyes.”
The challenge is to prove last year was no fluke in preparing to open this season at Columbus on Thursday. The Sabres will do so with a young roster that got even younger following a summer in which top-line forward Alex Tuch was traded to Washington and defenseman Bowen Byram to Chicago.
Though both played key roles in Buffalo’s breakthrough season, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is banking on the promise a brimming crop of youngsters showed last year.
It’s a 24-and-younger forward group that includes Josh Doan, Zach Benson, Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius. They’re being counted upon to provide Buffalo a three-line scoring attack alongside veterans Tage Thompson, Josh Norris, Peyton Krebbs and Jason Zucker.
On defense, Buffalo shored up its core of Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power by acquiring Louis Crevier and Olen Zellweger in trades.
“With the talent that we have internally, I think we need to believe in the work that we’ve put in to develop them, grow with them, and now they’re ready,” said Kekalainen, who is entering his first full season on the job in Buffalo.
He declined to address speculation surrounding Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, a three-time Vezina Trophy winner who has gone public with his trade demands. Kekalainen would only say he is confident in Buffalo’s three-goalie rotation headed by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon, both coming off 20-win seasons.
“By no means are we satisfied,” Kekalainen said, in assessing last season’s success. “'Pretty good,' I said to the team. Pretty good’s not good enough.”
His promotion from senior adviser following Kevyn Adams’ firing in mid-December spurred the Sabres’ turnaround. Buffalo went from last in the Eastern Conference standings to its first 50-win season since 2006-07, closing the year on a 39-9-5 run.
The Sabres are counting on a better start to this year, while building on their scrappy identity and consistency in play.
“We’ve been battle-tested,” said Thompson, before cautioning last year’s results don’t count for anything this year. “It doesn’t give us a free ride to the same spot. We’re going to have to earn it.”
At 66, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was rewarded with a two-year contract extension in May, and enters his third season in his second stint in Buffalo. He ranks third on the NHL list with 1,938 games coached and fourth with 950 wins. Ruff laughed when reminded a 50-win season would get him to 1,000.
“I’ve been around too long,” Ruff said with a chuckle. “But 50 would be really important for our team, because if you get 50, you’re going to be a playoff team. I think that’s a great goal for us as a group for sure.”
Ruff on Tuesday said Samuelsson (lower body) is “very close” to returning a week after getting hurt blocking a shot. ... Lyon (upper body) is anticipated to resume practicing soon after missing a week. Luukkonen practiced on Tuesday after pulling himself from Buffalo's preseason finale on Saturday. ... Veteran forward Conor Sheary was loaned to AHL Rochester, but must first clear waivers.
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FILE - Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) carries the puck over the blue line during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, April 9, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)
FILE - Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff looks on after an NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks, March 19, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Thien-An Truong, File)
