At least seven souls lost their lives and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a boat ferrying about two hundred migrants seeking to enter Europe capsized near the shoreline of Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped late Wednesday night near Jinack village in the North Bank Region and it was later found "beached on a shoal", the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for other passengers who were on board the capsized craft that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for migrants from Africa attempting to get to European nations.
Close to 47,000 people arrived at the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and estimates in excess of nine thousand individuals have died trying.
Search and Rescue Efforts
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy launched a search-and-rescue operation, involving a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defence ministry reported.
Authorities say some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven people who drowned have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are said to be in grave health and getting immediate medical attention.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is one of the routes taken by migrants seeking to get to Europe, often on perilous trips over water and land.
Over the past few years, the EU has forged deals with several Maghreb states designed to reducing undocumented migration.
