A minimum of seven souls have died and a significant number are missing after a craft ferrying around 200 migrants seeking to enter Europe capsized near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, officials state.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was subsequently discovered "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants trying to reach the EU.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants made it to the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and data indicates more than 9,000 people have lost their lives during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
After Wednesday's accident, Gambia's naval forces initiated a search-and-rescue operation, involving several naval vessels and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the defence ministry confirmed.
Authorities say several of the victims are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The deceased of the seven victims who drowned were found, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
The Gambia is one of the routes utilized by migrants trying to reach Europe, often on perilous trips by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has reached agreements with a number of North African countries with the goal of limiting illegal migration.
