Ceuta border rush: Loved ones in limbo over missing family members

Omar Lotfi’s family has been crushed under the weight of unanswered questions ever since he went missing. From pleas on social media to contacting hospitals, aid groups and authorities, they’ve left no stone unturned. Lotfi, 24, went missing on July 31, after leaving his hometown of Dar Bouazza on the outskirts of the Moroccan city of Casablanca, in the hope of reaching Ceuta. He was among more than 70,000 migrants who last week rushed toward the border with the small Spanish exclave in North Africa in the hope of starting new lives in Europe after a recent Supreme Court ruling on migrant returns. At least 72 of them died, some drowning and others trampled in the charge. Most of the others have since returned to Morocco, but a few thousand remain, according to the Ceuta government. And among those that remain, some, like Lotfi, remain unaccounted for.