A minimum of seven individuals have died and numerous others are missing following a vessel carrying about 200 migrants attempting to reach European shores capsized in waters near The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry stated in a release.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a hunt is ongoing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers seeking entry into European nations.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Spanish archipelago in 2024 and estimates more than nine thousand individuals have died in the attempt.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, the navy began a rescue mission, involving multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the defense officials reported.
Authorities say several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven victims who died have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
Gambia is one of the routes utilized by asylum seekers attempting to enter Europe, typically through hazardous voyages by sea and land.
Recently, the EU has forged deals with a number of North African nations aimed at reducing undocumented migration.