No fewer than seven individuals have perished and a significant number are lost following a craft transporting approximately 200 migrants seeking to enter Europe sank off the coast of the Gambian coast, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
96 individuals have been saved to date and a hunt is ongoing for the remaining passengers who were on board the sunken boat that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa trying to reach Europe.
Almost 47,000 individuals made it to the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and figures suggest in excess of 9,000 migrants have died in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy launched a rescue mission, using multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the defence ministry said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The remains of the seven people who died have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are reported to be in serious condition and getting immediate medical attention.
A Common Migration Route
The Gambia is one of the routes utilized by migrants seeking to get to the EU, typically through dangerous journeys by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the EU has established pacts with a number of North African countries designed to limiting illegal migration.
