Numerous People Unaccounted For After Boat Carrying Two Hundred Migrants Goes Down in waters off Gambia.
A minimum of seven individuals have died and a significant number are lost in the wake of a boat ferrying around 200 migrants trying to get to Europe sank near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, reports confirm.
The craft flipped late Wednesday night near Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African asylum seekers trying to reach European nations.
Almost 47,000 individuals arrived at the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and data indicates more than 9,000 migrants perished trying.
Rescue Operation
Following the Wednesday incident, Gambia's naval forces launched a rescue mission, involving several naval vessels and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the defense officials said.
Officials state several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are said to be in critical condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a common pathway taken by asylum seekers trying to reach the EU, typically through perilous trips by sea and land.
Recently, the European Union has reached agreements with a number of Maghreb states designed to reducing undocumented migration.
