A minimum of seven people lost their lives and many others remain unaccounted for in the wake of a vessel ferrying around two hundred people trying to get to European shores sank off the coast of Gambia, authorities say.
The boat overturned late Wednesday night close to Jinack in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a hunt is ongoing for the remaining passengers who were aboard the sunken boat that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for migrants from Africa seeking entry into European nations.
Almost forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canaries in 2024 and estimates more than 9,000 migrants perished during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, Gambia's naval forces began a search operation, involving a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the defense officials said.
Authorities say several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven people who perished at sea have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are described as being in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
Gambia is one of the routes taken by asylum seekers trying to reach Europe, typically through dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has established pacts with several Maghreb states aimed at limiting irregular migration.
