A migrant who hid in a suitcase for at least five hours while on board a ship bound for Spain died while trapped inside..

The 27-year-old from Morocco squeezed into the suitcase, which was then loaded into the boot of a car and driven onto a ferry travelling from Melilla to Almeria on Sunday, by his 37-year-old brother.

But just before the ferry was due to arrive at the southern Spanish port after five hour crossing, the brother opened the luggage in Spain and found the man unconscious.

Destination: The 27-year-old migrant had crammed into a suitcase so his brother could try and smuggle him into Spain, but as the ferry pulled into Almeria (pictured) he was found dead after he was suffocated

Desperate: The Moroccan man had travelled from Spain's north African enclave of Melilla (pictured), where hundreds of migrants have tried to sneak onto boats and cars bound for Europe in search of a better life

He called for emergency services, who frantically tried to resuscitate the man but he had suffocated.

Francisco Jerez, spokesman for the Interior Ministry's office in Almeria, confirmed the older brother, a Moroccan with a French passport, has now been arrested by police.

The death is the latest example of the extreme measures migrants are taking to try and reach Europe.

The ferry had come from Melilla, one of two Spanish port city enclaves in northwestern Africa that are bordered by Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea and represent the only land route between Africa and Europe.

Thousands of migrants from Morocco try to enter the European Union illegally via Spain each year, especially through the enclaves.

On Sunday, Morocco's Interior Ministry said four migrants from sub-Saharan Africa drowned while trying to swim around a fence from the mainland to the second enclave, Ceuta.

The statement added that three others were rescued by the Moroccan navy.

In May MailOnline reported how an eight-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast was hidden inside a woman's suitcase as she tried to smuggle him into Spain.

Similar: An eight-year-old boy was hidden inside a suitcase as a woman tried to smuggle him into Spain in May

Rescue: Customs officials found Adou Ouattara and reunited him with his mother, who lives in Spain legally

Customs officials spotted Adou Ouattara when the luggage was passed through an X-ray machine and clearly showed his tiny frame packed inside.