Scores Unaccounted For After Boat Carrying Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Capsizes in waters off Gambia.
A minimum of seven individuals have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for in the wake of a vessel carrying approximately two hundred people attempting to reach Europe overturned in waters near The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped late Wednesday night close to Jinack in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers seeking entry into Europe.
Nearly 47,000 individuals made it to the Spanish archipelago in the year 2024 and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals have died trying.
Ongoing Mission
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces began a search-and-rescue operation, involving several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the military reported.
Officials state several of the victims are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven individuals who drowned were found, and ten of the survivors are described as being in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Frequent Pathway
This West African nation is a common pathway utilized by migrants seeking to get to European countries, frequently via hazardous voyages over water and land.
Recently, the European bloc has forged deals with a number of North African nations designed to curtailing irregular migration.
