This is the moment a serious fire tore through a migrant settlement in Ceuta on Thursday night.

Footage shared online showed a wall of flames lighting up the dark night as a column of smoke billowed into the sky.

Firefighters branded it a ‘terrible night’ for the Spanish enclave after a series of fires across the city also saw eight cars and four rubbish containers torched.

The settlement in the Tarajal district saw 42 makeshift shelters destroyed by the inferno, which broke out shortly after 11pm.

According to the Ceuta Fire and Rescue Service, the fire was put out within a couple of hours.

There have been no reported injuries.

It is not yet clear who or what was responsible for starting the series of fires, or whether they were connected.

They followed another fire earlier on Thursday afternoon in a wooded area near Trampolin beach and Ceuta’s Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants (CETI).

It comes amid heightened tensions in Ceuta following the crossing of more than 70,000 people over July 30 and 31.

Meanwhile, a political row over warnings issued beforehand by Spain’s CNI intelligence service rumbles on.

Political crisis deepens

Gonzalo Sanz, chief of staff to the Spanish government’s delegate in Ceuta, resigned on Friday following the declassification of CNI documents relating to the events of July 30.

His departure came after WhatsApp messages emerged showing that he had received information from the intelligence service about calls circulating on social media for a possible mass entry into Ceuta.

Sanz cited ‘personal and family reasons’ but also highlighted the contradiction between his account and that of government delegate Miguel Angel Perez Triano.

Sanz maintains that he passed the CNI information to Perez Triano on July 29, while the delegate has publicly said he did not receive that information from his chief of staff.

His resignation is the first directly linked to the political fallout from the Ceuta migrant crisis.