A minimum of seven people have perished and a significant number are missing in the wake of a vessel ferrying approximately two hundred people seeking to enter the European continent overturned off the coast of Gambia, authorities say.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday near Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was subsequently discovered "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
96 individuals have been saved to date and a search is continuing for those still missing who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa seeking entry into the EU.
Almost 47,000 individuals made it to the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and figures suggest in excess of 9,000 migrants perished during the journey.
Rescue Operation
Following the Wednesday incident, The Gambian Navy initiated a search-and-rescue operation, involving a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the defence ministry reported.
Officials state a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven victims who died were found, and a dozen of the saved are said to be in serious condition and getting immediate medical attention.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is one of the routes used by asylum seekers seeking to get to the EU, frequently via perilous trips over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has forged deals with several Maghreb states aimed at curtailing illegal migration.
