Dozens Unaccounted For After Vessel Holding Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Goes Down in waters off the Gambian coast.
At least seven souls lost their lives and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a craft ferrying approximately two hundred migrants attempting to reach the European continent capsized off the coast of Gambia, reports confirm.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was later found "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for other passengers who were traveling on the sunken boat that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for migrants from Africa trying to reach Europe.
Nearly 47,000 individuals arrived at the Spanish archipelago in 2024 and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals perished during the journey.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, the navy began a search-and-rescue operation, using multiple navy ships and a fishing vessel that offered help, the defense officials reported.
Officials state a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The remains of the seven individuals who drowned have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and getting immediate medical attention.
An Established Corridor
The Gambia is one of the routes taken by asylum seekers attempting to enter the EU, frequently via hazardous voyages by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the EU has forged deals with a number of North African nations designed to reducing undocumented migration.
