At least 57 dead after migrants force their way into buildings and surge towards supermarkets - after 60,000 flooded through border of Spanish enclave

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Local media claimed that a couple carrying a baby even used a ladder to climb up to a first-floor window of a local's house.

Cars were seen burning on the streets back on the Moroccan side of the Melilla border as hundreds waited their turn to try and jump the fence. Fires were reportedly started by frustrated arsonists denied passage.

Hundreds even converged on a supermarket, where staff were forced to let a few men through a huge gate at a time.

It is estimated that over 37,000 of people who had crossed ​the border by land and sea already heading back voluntarily.

Spain deployed military units to Ceuta in North Africa as migrants surged by sea and land into the territory - one of only three land borders with Europe on the African continent.

It comes as the British Government offered support to Spain as the flow of migrants continues, Andy Burnham has said on Friday.

Thousands of migrants, mostly young men, swimming or floating on inner tubes from the Moroccan side, and others breaking through a gate on land and running into the city.

It was initially reported that around 49,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in the space of just one day, as they rushed by sea and land from Morocco, but this is now estimated to be around 60,000.

EC president Ursula Von Der Leyen posted online: "The images coming from Ceuta are unacceptable.

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"We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules.

"Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow."

Speaking on Friday Prime Minister Andy Burnham was asked about migrant crossings throughout Europe, including over the English Channel to the UK.

“It’s a concerning situation and I know people will see those scenes and want something to be done, more to be done,” he replied.

“What I have done is firstly keep the current Home Secretary (Shabana Mahmood) in place because the plan she has implemented has started to make a difference.

“Although this is the peak period of the year for crossings, overall the number of crossings is down, the number of removals of people is up.“So, there is progress, but we both recognise that we need to do more.”

It comes as Ceuta expert Dr Jose Olivas Osuna from the UNED university in Madrid told LBC News: "The Gendarmerie wouldn't allow a lot of people to be near the water in that part of the border.

"I was there this year and I was looking and there was nobody around. Normally the army has that area controlled and it's not quite easy and it's dangerous.

"So I think they are trying now because the weather is better and there are not many waves. So that's also a factor there.

"But this, they say that that has been semi-organized by some groups of people because they are coming into trucks also to the other side of the border in Morocco and then they are jumping from the trucks.

"Getting some swimming devices and then trying to cross to Spain. And then yesterday there was a moment where the Moroccan police also ceased to prevent people from crossing by walking.

"So it's not just the people swimming, it's just people that have been crossing without being controlled by the the gendarmerie by the border.

"The Spanish police has no capacity to prevent such an influx without harming the people.

"So the approach of Spanish police forces in the border have been to prioritise safety of people. So as a result, now we have thousands of people that have just entered Ceuta."

Residents now fear for their safety as migrants break into homes with hammers and then surge inside.

Groups of men were filmed throwing rocks at police cars and active aggressively towards police.

Meanwhile, Military were forced to use tear gas as thousands surged across the border.

In Fnideq, a Moroccan town just beyond the Ceuta border, Moroccan authorities aimed water cannons at migrants very late Thursday in an attempt to deter them from crossing.

"It was very tough. The police tried to stop us. But our will and determination allowed us to come here," migrant Jadid Zacaria, his hair and shirt still wet from the ocean, said in an interview in Ceuta on Thursday afternoon as migrants streamed through a border gate nearby.

Some of the migrants shouted, "Long live Spain" as they entered the territory.

Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country was prepared "to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain."

Nine corpses were found in Ceuta on Thursday, local authorities said, rising the number of people who died on trying to enter the Spanish enclave to 18. 60 migrants have died attempting to cross into the territory in recent months.

In Melilla, Spain's second autonomous city in northern Africa, footage from local media and human rights organisations appeared to show clashes at the Beni Ansar border point late Thursday.

That has been the only open crossing between Morocco and Melilla for the past six years.

According to Omar Naji of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, at least three vehicles were set ablaze and injuries were reported among migrants and security forces.

This comes as pain's Socialist government stands out in Europe for its pro-migrant stance, and it has recently launched a programme to provide legal status for some 500,000 undocumented migrants, triggering an influx of applications double that number.

Nigel Farage took to social media to respond to the viral footage.

"It's time to wake up everybody," he said.

Morocco's Interior Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The government said 200 specialised police officers and 60 troops arrived from the Spanish mainland to reinforce Ceuta's regular forces. It was unclear whether reinforcements were being sent to Melilla, and authorities were not immediately available for comment.

On a highway 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Ceuta in Morocco, Reuters witnesses saw groups of young people walking north in hopes of reaching Spanish territory.

The scene was reminiscent of 2021, when some 10,000 people from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, many of them minors, entered Ceuta, an enclave of 85,000 people.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will travel to Ceuta on Friday with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska for meetings with security forces and local authorities, his office said.

Many shops in Ceuta were shuttered on Thursday.

Enrique Serrano, who runs a women's clothing store, said business owners were organising self-defence because they believed police resources would be insufficient.

"I'm not opening this afternoon because the situation is extremely tense ... The first thing I have to do is protect my business and my family," he said, adding that hundreds of migrants rushed through the border fence in a matter of minutes during the early hours of Thursday.

Ceuta and Melilla have the European Union's only land borders with Africa. Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe.

Right-wing parties criticised the drive, arguing it would attract more migrants to Spain, and were quick to blame Sanchez for allowing the situation in Ceuta to reach crisis proportions.