She Dies Swimming Toward Ceuta as Her Visa for Spain Had Just Been Approved

The irony is terrible. Jamilla, the young woman’s mother, says she received a call that morning from someone asking to speak to Faten. After explaining that she was her mother, an official told her that her daughter’s Spanish visa application had been approved and that she had to go to the consulate in Tangier with her identity card to collect it.

On Bladi.net : 1,200 dirhams a month, then swimming to Ceuta: why they left

Jamilla did not even know that her daughter had submitted an application. She still does not know what type of visa it was or where Faten intended to go. She thinks that her daughter simply did not believe that her application would succeed.

A few hours later, Faten Ben Omar El Azizi was among the victims of the mass attempt to cross into Ceuta. Her story is told by the Guardian, which met her family in Tétouan.

She dreamed of reaching Europe through football

Faten was not without work in Morocco. She had played for several years for Moghreb Atlético Tétouan in the regional women’s championship and, according to her mother, dreamed of one day reaching Europe through football.

But the sport did not allow her to make a living. She received about 260 dirhams when her team won and nothing in the event of a defeat. This was not enough to help support her mother, her two brothers and sister, and the other members of the family. Her father had died when she was 12.

To supplement her income, the young woman worked in Tétouan’s oldest cemetery. She cleaned graves there and sold basil to families who came to pay their respects. After her death, she was buried in that same cemetery.

Her family searched for her throughout the night after she disappeared. A young man eventually came to explain that she had suffered a head injury during the attempted crossing. Her aunt later identified her body.

On Bladi.net : They Risked Their Lives to Enter Ceuta, Then Did Everything They Could to Return to Morocco

The tragedy did not end there for Jamilla. After discovering that Faten had attempted to reach Ceuta, she learned that her other two children had also left. Her eldest son managed to reach the city, while, at the time of the testimony gathered by the British daily, the mother was still waiting for news of her 14-year-old daughter.