Dozens Unaccounted For After Craft Holding Two Hundred Migrants Capsizes in waters off Gambia.
No fewer than seven souls have perished and numerous others are lost following a vessel ferrying around two hundred people seeking to enter European shores sank off the coast of Gambia, officials state.
The vessel capsized in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the country's defence ministry announced officially.
96 individuals were pulled to safety and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were aboard the sunken boat that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants attempting to get to European nations.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Spanish archipelago in 2024 and data indicates over nine thousand individuals have died trying.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy began a rescue mission, involving a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the defense officials reported.
Officials state a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The deceased of the seven people who drowned have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Frequent Pathway
The Gambia is a common pathway utilized by migrants trying to reach the EU, frequently via hazardous voyages over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has forged deals with multiple North African nations with the goal of limiting illegal migration.