At least seven people have perished and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a vessel ferrying around two hundred migrants trying to get to European shores capsized near the shoreline of Gambia, officials state.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the northern bank region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Spanish Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Almost forty-seven thousand migrants made it to the Canary Islands in 2024 and figures suggest more than 9,000 people perished trying.
Rescue Operation
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy began a search operation, involving multiple navy ships and a fishing vessel that offered help, the defense officials reported.
Officials state several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The deceased of the seven victims who perished at sea were found, and ten of the survivors 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 asylum seekers seeking to get to Europe, often on perilous trips over water and land.
In recent years, the European Union has reached agreements with multiple North African countries with the goal of limiting irregular migration.
