No fewer than seven souls lost their lives and many others are lost in the wake of a vessel carrying about two hundred people seeking to enter Europe sank off the coast of The Gambia, officials state.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack village in the North Bank Region and it was later found "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry stated in a release.
96 individuals have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for those still missing who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and estimates more than nine thousand individuals have lost their lives during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy launched a rescue mission, using a number of military boats and a fishing boat that came to assist, the defence ministry reported.
Reports indicate some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their identities are still being verified.
The deceased of the seven people who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are described as being in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
The Gambia is one of the routes taken by migrants seeking to get to the EU, often on perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has established pacts with several North African countries aimed at reducing illegal migration.
