A migrant of Moroccan nationality, aged about 55, died this Friday after collapsing in the shower area of a settlement located on Trampolín beach. According to police sources, the first indications indicate that the man suffered a heart attack that would have caused his death. However, the autopsy will determine the causes of death.
At 2:40 p.m., the man's nephew contacted a member of the German NGO MISSION LIFELINE, which provides medical assistance to migrants who have arrived in Ceuta since the beginning of the migratory crisis. The young man warned that his uncle was in very bad condition: he remained lying in the shower area, with chills and vomiting.
Members of the NGO team then went to the scene and verified that the man was responsive and had a pulse. They took him out of the showers, sat him in a nearby area and notified the emergency services. During the first 15 minutes, members of the organization treated the man while they waited for the arrival of the ambulance. At that time, he remained conscious.
After that time, the man stopped breathing. "Our team brought a defibrillator from the van and began to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. After a minute or so, they called the emergency services again to report the situation," the president of MISSION LIFELINE, Nolte Bauer, tells EL PAÍS.
"The police came and a few minutes later a kind of vehicle similar to an ambulance arrived, but without any medical equipment. We would describe it more as a transport vehicle. No medications, no medical equipment, nothing like that," Bauer continues.
Members of the organization continued to perform chest compressions on the man. At 3:36 p.m., almost an hour after the first notification to the emergency services, a second ambulance arrived, this time equipped with medical supplies, according to the organization's president.
“They were still performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him, but shortly after this second ambulance arrived the man died,” says Bauer. The president of MISSION LIFELINE adds that the deceased “had been admitted to the hospital a couple of days before, on September 22, for diarrhea.”
The man died on the ground, near some showers installed by the Government around Trampolín beach, where some 3,000 Moroccan migrants remain.
Bauer, who has spent two weeks in Ceuta, emphasizes the harshness of the conditions in which these people live. "Thousands of people continue to live in very difficult conditions, with food insecurity and insufficient medical assistance. We are trying to cover this gap, which is very, very large, because health services are overwhelmed. The Red Cross is doing everything it can, but we have to come with a medical truck to attend to precisely this type of situation, in addition to the usual needs," he points out.
The National Police has opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the death. At the moment, no further details have been provided regarding the causes of death. The first indications point to a death due to natural causes, although it will be the autopsy that will finally determine what caused the death.
