At least seven souls lost their lives and many others are lost following a boat carrying approximately two hundred migrants attempting to reach Europe sank near the shoreline of The Gambia, authorities say.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were aboard the sunken boat that was en route to the Spanish Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers trying to reach the EU.
Close to 47,000 people arrived at the Canaries in the year 2024 and data indicates in excess of nine thousand individuals have died in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, Gambia's naval forces initiated a search-and-rescue operation, involving a number of military boats and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the defence ministry confirmed.
Authorities say several of the victims are foreign nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The remains of the seven people who drowned have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a frequent corridor taken by asylum seekers seeking to get to Europe, typically through dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
In recent years, the European bloc has reached agreements with a number of North African countries with the goal of curtailing illegal migration.
