Scores Missing After Boat Holding Two Hundred Migrants Sinks near the coast of Gambia.
At least seven souls lost their lives and many others remain unaccounted for in the wake of a craft ferrying about two hundred migrants seeking to enter European shores overturned in waters near The Gambia, reports confirm.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the sunken boat that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa trying to reach the EU.
Almost 47,000 individuals made it to the Canaries in 2024 and estimates in excess of 9,000 migrants have died during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy began a search-and-rescue operation, involving multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the defence ministry said.
Reports indicate a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven victims who drowned were found, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
This West African nation is one of the routes utilized by migrants seeking to get to the EU, frequently via hazardous voyages over water and land.
Over the past few years, the EU has established pacts with a number of North African nations aimed at reducing irregular migration.
