New Delhi, July 31 -- CEUTA - Nine migrants were dead and hundreds more were swelling this city's overcrowded reception centres Thursday evening after thousands of people waded, swam and pressed through border barriers from Morocco into Spain's North African enclave. By nightfall, Italy's foreign minister was threatening to close the Schengen free-movement zone to Spain, and the European Union had offered border reinforcements while declining to share the burden of the people already inside.

Regional President Juan Jesus Vivas declared an "absolute humanitarian and social emergency" as reception facilities built for hundreds strained toward two thousand people. He called on Madrid to send military units and assume unified command of the ...