The Spanish government has said death toll from the mass rush into the North African enclave of Ceuta, where about 60,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea, from Morocco on Thursday is now 72.

The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez Triano, told journalists on Sunday that, “The latest figure that we have is 72,” after five more bodies were found along Ceuta’s coast.

He added that over 1,000 others were receiving medical attention.

Some of the migrants, who swam to the territory from Morocco, were said to have drowned, while others were crushed trying to climb a breakwater and border fence.

The migrants were also said to be fleeing from economic hardship in Morocco but the Spanish government noted that over 48,000 had voluntarily returned to their locations within 48 hours of the incident.

Also, Ceuta leader, Juan Jesus Vivas, told the newspaper El Pais that since the incident happened, the city’s morgue had received 88 corpses, adding that Moroccan authorities were also recovering bodies from the sea, but had yet to make any figure public.

The number of migrants that crossed to Ceuta, one of the European Union’s only two land ​borders with Africa, is the territory’s largest mass migrant crossing.

According to AFP, Spanish soldiers detained a group of nine tired-looking migrants at the territory, while the City Guard also took migrants off a bus and escorted them to the border post to return to Morocco.

Following the incident, more ​police and army patrols were deployed to the streets of Ceuta, while a 500-metre floating barrier was installed off ​Ceuta to prevent a recurrence.