A minimum of seven individuals have perished and many others remain unaccounted for following a craft carrying around 200 migrants seeking to enter European shores overturned near the shoreline of The Gambia, officials state.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack village in the northern bank region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for other passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants seeking entry into Europe.
Almost forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canaries in 2024 and estimates more than 9,000 migrants perished during the journey.
Rescue Operation
Following the Wednesday incident, The Gambian Navy launched a search-and-rescue operation, deploying a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military reported.
Officials state some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The remains of the seven individuals who died have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are said to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a common pathway taken by migrants attempting to enter the EU, frequently via dangerous journeys over water and land.
Recently, the European Union has reached agreements with a number of North African nations designed to curtailing undocumented migration.
