BRUSSELS, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The European Commission said it seeks information on the drowning of 12 migrants who attempted to swim to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa.
"The commission will be requesting explanations from the Spanish authorities on these events," said European Union home affairs spokesperson Michele Cercone in Brussels.
The 12 who drowned were among about 200 migrants who attempted to enter Ceuta Feb. 6 from Morocco. The incident, in which Spanish border guards allegedly fired rubber bullets at the migrants, was only confirmed by Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz on Feb. 13.
Ceuta, while on the north coast of Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar on the Mediterranean Sea, is a 7.1-square mile city belonging to Spain, with a population of about 83,000.
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While some of the migrants attempted to cross the border on land, he swimmers attempted to navigate around a man-made breakwater separating Moroccan and Spanish waters, the online newspaper EUObserver reported Friday.
Diaz said the border guards fired over, and not at, the swimming migrants, and noted their actions were appropriate because of what he described as the aggressive behavior of the migrants.
EuObserver said 23 people arrived at a Ceuta beach and were turned over to Moroccan authorities, adding the action contravenes a European Union law allowing any migrant who steps foot on a member states' territory to be eligible for a review of his or her asylum request.
Diaz admitted the migrants made it to the beach, but did not enter Spanish territory because they never passed a line of waiting border guards.
