At least seven individuals have died and numerous others are lost after a vessel ferrying about two hundred migrants seeking to enter Europe overturned near the shoreline of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight close to the village of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was later found "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a hunt is ongoing for the remaining passengers who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic Ocean has become an increasingly common route for African migrants attempting to get to the EU.
Nearly 47,000 people reached the Spanish archipelago in the year 2024 and data indicates more than nine thousand individuals have lost their lives in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy began a search-and-rescue operation, using multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defense officials reported.
Reports indicate a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The remains of the seven victims who perished at sea were found, and 10 of those rescued are reported to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is one of the routes utilized by asylum seekers seeking to get to the EU, often on perilous trips over water and land.
Recently, the European bloc has reached agreements with multiple Maghreb states with the goal of reducing illegal migration.
