This is the dramatic moment a policeman breaks his leg in a last-ditch attempt to stop desperate migrants from reaching Spain.

The guard was left with his right foot facing the wrong way after suffering a double fracture while attempting to kick a migrant to the ground.

CCTV captured the stomach-turning injury at the border crossing between Morocco and Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta in the early hours of Monday.

More than 300 mostly sub-Saharan migrants stormed a border checkpoint between Morocco and Spain on Monday morning, with at least 180 making it across

A border guard was filmed breaking his leg in two places while trying to trip up one of the fleeing migrants and falling

More than 180 migrants, largely from sub-Saharan Africa, managed to reach Spanish soil after breaking through the border gate and rushing past guards.

The footage show the guards' efforts to stop the men, including tripping them and striking out with a baton, but it proved in vain.

The migrants were later photographed rejoicing as they ran through the streets and kneeling with their arms outstretched for joy at making it to Europe.

Four migrants had to be taken to hospital for treatment after the rush, along with the policeman, who has not been named.

The dramatic border incident occurred at the Tarajal crossing around 5am local time.

The man fractured his lower right leg in two places during the fall which left his foot facing in the opposite direction

The migrants were pictured celebrating as they made their way on to Spanish soil where they will now be handed to immigration agency CETI

It is expected that the men will be transferred to the Spanish mainland while their immigration cases are decided

An estimated 300 migrants stormed the border, with around 187 men making it across according to initial Red Cross figures.

Migrants often attempt mass crossings of the perimeter fence between Spanish soil and the Moroccan mainland, but storming official border posts is rare.

Two years ago a Moroccan teenager was stopped by police on the same Tarajal border crossing with an eight-year-old boy inside a suitcase in images which went round the word.

An hour and a half later his dad was arrested trying to cross at the same spot.

Police have described the latest incident, which comes a fortnight after an officer was stabbed by a Moroccan man shouting 'Allah is Great', as 'very rare.'

An investigation is now underway to determine why so many migrants managed to breach the Ceuta border, with the central government's spokesman for the area attributing it to a 'security failure.'

The African migrants were later found hiding away inside fairground ride equipment that was about to be shipped to the Spanish mainland

Police using thermal imaging equipment and sniffer dogs tracked down at least 19 men who had made it across the border hiding on amusement trucks

The men will be handed over to immigration agency CETI and may be taken to the mainland while their status is determined

Police officers search a truck belonging to a funfair for stowaway migrants as it waits to board a ferry to mainland Spain

Footage shows the officers, who appear to number around half a dozen, reacting just seconds before the army of migrants storm a glass door protecting the passport control area.

One of the officers looks on helpless as the men sprint by before two colleagues - one with the baton and the other who resorts to trying to trip up the men - get involved as the last of the migrants race across the border.

The wounded officer is left glued to the spot where he breaks his leg, before shocked colleagues sit him down in a chair and put his damaged right leg on another while they wait for an ambulance to arrive.

The immigrants who made it across the border will be held in a temporary migrant holding centre known as a CETI but are expected to be transferred to the Spanish mainland in the coming weeks and months while their futures are decided.