A minimum of seven people have died and many others remain unaccounted for following a craft transporting around two hundred people seeking to enter Europe overturned near the shoreline of Gambia, reports confirm.
The boat overturned in the early hours of Thursday near Jinack in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the country's defence ministry stated in a release.
Ninety-six people were pulled to safety and a rescue operation continues for other passengers who were traveling on the sunken boat that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for migrants from Africa trying to reach European nations.
Almost forty-seven thousand migrants made it to the Canaries in 2024 and data indicates over nine thousand individuals have died during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, The Gambian Navy began a search-and-rescue operation, using several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the military confirmed.
Officials state several of the victims are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven people who drowned have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and getting immediate medical attention.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a frequent corridor utilized by asylum seekers seeking to get to Europe, typically through perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the EU has reached agreements with a number of Maghreb states with the goal of reducing illegal migration.
