No fewer than seven people have perished and numerous others remain unaccounted for after a boat ferrying approximately two hundred people seeking to enter European shores overturned in waters near Gambia, authorities say.
The vessel capsized in the early hours of Thursday close to Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
96 individuals were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants seeking entry into Europe.
Close to 47,000 individuals arrived at the Canaries in the year 2024 and data indicates in excess of nine thousand individuals have lost their lives during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy began a search operation, involving a number of military boats and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the defense officials said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The deceased of the seven people who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are described as being in grave health and getting immediate medical attention.
An Established Corridor
This West African nation is one of the routes utilized by migrants seeking to get to European countries, typically through hazardous voyages across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has reached agreements with a number of Maghreb states designed to limiting undocumented migration.
