According to multiple migrants interviewed by AP, people rushed to scramble over the slick rocks at the same time, pushing and climbing over one another. Several said they saw people knocked back into the water and forced beneath others, leaving them unable to resurface as migrants sought to reach land.

Spain's interior minister faced off with hawkish EU counterparts Tuesday in a tense video call to draw lessons from the mass influx of migrants into the North African enclave of Ceuta -- which laid bare the bloc's fault lines on migration.

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Ursula von der Leyen has called for action ahead of an urgent EU interior ministers meeting to discuss the issue.

EU ambassadors will hold a video conference as the bloc grapples with deep differences of opinion on how to respond to the sudden surge of migrants rushing through the land and sea borders between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.

By the time authorities reacted, an estimated 60,000 people had reached Ceuta in just a few days, the largest migration surge between Morocco and Spain in years. More than 80 migrants died on both sides of the border, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede, authorities said.

Spanish police have chased down hundreds of Moroccan migrants following the invasion of over 50,000 in the enclave of Ceuta.

The pro-immigration leader is facing backlash at home and abroad after roughly 60,000 people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave.