Some 1,000 unaccompanied minors are still in Spain’s Ceuta enclave while another 7,500 people have returned to Morocco since the mass influx a week ago, the interior ministry said Monday.

A ministry spokesman said “around 1,000” under-18s remained in the North African enclave after crossing the border with a huge wave of 8,000-9,000 people early last week.

The figure is more than twice the number given on Friday by a top official in Ceuta who said the city was caring for 438 youngsters while acknowledging hundreds more were living on the streets who had not yet been registered.

Ceuta’s government believes the overall number of arrivals could have been as high as 10,000 people, overwhelming the tiny enclave with a population of 85,000.

For now, all efforts are focused on tracing their parents, with the authorities under pressure to examine each case individually to see whether it’s best to return youngsters to their families or let them stay in Spain.

So far, some 7,500 have crossed back into Morocco, the spokesman added, without saying how many were minors.

Under international law, an unaccompanied minor cannot be sent back across a border without a detailed examination of their situation, rights groups have said.

Most of the migrants swam from the Moroccan coast to Ceuta but some came in inflatable boats and two drowned during the attempt.

Although hundreds have been taken in by the authorities, many others are sleeping rough in parks and doorways, penniless and hungry, with police rescuing one youngster who tried to hang himself on Friday.

Police also rescued another minor who broke his leg on Sunday.

The migrants were able to cross because the Moroccan border forces deliberately looked the other way in what was widely understood as a punitive gesture after Spain offered hospital treatment to the leader of Western Sahara’s independence movement.

The move has infuriated Rabat but on Monday, Spain’s Justice Minister Juan Carlos Campo said he believed the crisis with Morocco was easing.