No fewer than seven people lost their lives and many others remain unaccounted for following a vessel ferrying around 200 people seeking to enter European shores overturned off the coast of the Gambian coast, reports confirm.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry stated in a release.
Nearly one hundred people were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were aboard the capsized craft that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa attempting to get to the EU.
Almost 47,000 people reached the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and figures suggest more than nine thousand individuals perished during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
In the aftermath of the disaster, the navy began a search-and-rescue operation, deploying a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defense officials confirmed.
Authorities say several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is a common pathway taken by migrants trying to reach Europe, often on dangerous journeys over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has established pacts with a number of Maghreb states aimed at reducing illegal migration.
