Spain has said migrant crossings into its North African enclave of Ceuta halted overnight as authorities began installing a 500-metre floating barrier along the border with Morocco on Saturday, following a mass crossing that left at least 67 people dead.

The incident has heightened concerns across the European Union, with 22 member states calling for coordinated action to strengthen the bloc’s external borders and implement additional security measures.

Ireland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, announced that it had convened an emergency video conference of the bloc’s interior ministers for Tuesday to address the crisis.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also criticised Italy’s decision to temporarily suspend passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month.

“In the current international context, the EU cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction,” Mr Sánchez wrote in a letter to the EU Commission and European Council presidents.

Spanish authorities said more than 48,000 of the approximately 50,000 migrants who entered Ceuta by land and sea had returned to Morocco within 48 hours.

Madrid stressed that those who entered Ceuta irregularly would not be allowed to continue to mainland Spain or other parts of the Schengen area.

In a statement, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said travellers departing Ceuta by air or sea are subject to police identity checks, describing the process as a second layer of border control in addition to checks at the land frontier with Morocco.