Moroccan migrant risks life hiding under Real Valladolid team bus to reach Spain

A 17-year-old Moroccan migrant reached the Iberian Peninsula from Ceuta after hiding underneath a bus carrying Spanish second-division football club Real Valladolid, which was returning from a match played in the North African city, the club confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday.

Club sources said the teenager was found curled up between the bus’s rear wheels after travelling more than 100 kilometres on board.

According to the same source, he remained hidden in this way throughout the ferry journey from Ceuta to the mainland before asking for help when the bus stopped at a roadside service station.

The Real Valladolid delegation took care of the minor and provided him with food, water and clothes until the Spanish Civil Guard arrived and took charge of him.

Spanish authorities have recorded several similar cases in recent years in which migrants attempted to reach the Iberian Peninsula by hiding inside various vehicles.

The incident comes amid a migration crisis in Ceuta, one of two Spanish enclaves in North Africa, which has become a focus of political and diplomatic tensions since the end of July after more than 70,000 migrants entered the enclave from Morocco.