Morocco's interior ministry issued its first death toll on Sunday for those who died trying to cross into the Spanish north African autonomous city of Ceuta last week, saying 11 people had died.
It's a sharp contrast from Spain's figures which have set the death toll at 72, though those include deaths inside Ceuta, compared to Morocco's figures which appear to mainly focus on migrant deaths en route to the autonomous territory.
Tens of thousands of would-be migrants crossed into the territory between Wednesday and Friday, sparking a diplomatic row within the European Union as some member states criticised Spain's migration policies.
Rachid el-Khalfi, a spokesperson for Morocco's interior ministry, said that of the 11 who died, 10 had drowned, while an eleventh person fell from a rocky area. None of the deaths were recorded in Ceuta.
Morocco says its figures remain preliminary, noting that it is working with Spain to check the toll figures and to identify bodies found on the Spanish territory.
The ministry blamed the sudden surge on the "malicious exploitation" of social media and the "spread of misleading information".
But it also cited the "misinterpretations of legal provisions", a reference to an 8 July Spanish Supreme Court ruling that migrants arriving by sea should not be returned as quickly as others.
The ministry revealed that its studies showed that there had been at least 40,000 attempts to cross into Ceuta unlawfully over the past few days.
Another 1,135 people had tried to illegally enter the Spanish territory of Melilla, an autonomous Spanish exclave, further east, but had been immediately returned to Moroccan territory, according to the interior ministry.
Spain says more than 60,000 managed to enter Ceuta in recent days although most have now returned to Morocco.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said there were "nearly 130 victims" with dozens more missing. Prosecutors have opened an official investigation to identify what happened and coordinate response efforts with Spanish authorities.
