A minimum of seven people have perished and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a boat carrying around 200 people seeking to enter Europe capsized off the coast of Gambia, officials state.
The vessel capsized late Wednesday night near the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry stated in a release.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a hunt is ongoing for other passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel 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 migrants seeking entry into European nations.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canaries in the year 2024 and figures suggest more than 9,000 people have lost their lives during the journey.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy launched a search operation, deploying a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the defense officials confirmed.
Authorities say some of the deceased are not Gambian nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The remains of the seven people who drowned have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a common pathway taken by migrants seeking to get to Europe, often on dangerous journeys by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has forged deals with multiple Maghreb states aimed at limiting undocumented migration.
