A minimum of seven individuals lost their lives and a significant number are lost in the wake of a craft ferrying about two hundred migrants trying to get to Europe sank off the coast of The Gambia, officials state.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was later found "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
96 individuals were pulled to safety and a hunt is ongoing for those still missing who were traveling on the sunken boat that was en route to the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants attempting to get to the EU.
Close to 47,000 people arrived at the Canary Islands in 2024 and data indicates more than 9,000 migrants have died trying.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy launched a search-and-rescue operation, involving multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the military said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven people who drowned have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
This West African nation is one of the routes taken by asylum seekers trying to reach European countries, often on perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the EU has established pacts with multiple Maghreb states designed to curtailing undocumented migration.
