Moroccan dies whereas being smuggled into Spain in suitcase

The vehicle boarded a ferry in Melilla, a Spanish territory located in North Africa, and the brother sought medical assistance shortly before arriving to Almería, in Southern Spain.

The 27-year-old from Morocco squeezed into the suitcase, which was then loaded into the boot of a auto and driven onto a ferry travelling from Melilla to Almeria on Sunday, by his 37-year-old brother.

The ferry had come from Melilla, one of two Spanish port city enclaves in northwest Africa that are bordered by Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea.

Crew members as well as emergency services workers in the port of Almeria tried in vain to resuscitate the man.

The owner of the vehicle, the dead man’s brother, has been arrested, according to government officials.

The death is the latest example of the extreme measures migrants are taking to try and reach Europe.

Human Rights Watch says at least 4,300 people entered Ceuta and Melilla illegally in 2013, compared to 2,804 the year before.

In May, an eight-year-old boy from Ivory Coast was discovered inside a suitcase of a Moroccan woman as it went through a security check point at the Ceuta border control.

His father, a legal resident in Spain, had tried to smuggle the boy into Spain because his income was too low to request residency papers for his son.