Dozens Missing After Boat Carrying Two Hundred Migrants Sinks off the Gambian coast.
No fewer than seven individuals have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for after a craft ferrying approximately 200 people seeking to enter Europe capsized near the shoreline of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.
Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic Ocean has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers attempting to get to the EU.
Nearly 47,000 people made it to the Canaries in 2024 and figures suggest over nine thousand individuals have died trying.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy initiated a search-and-rescue operation, involving several naval vessels and a fishing boat that offered help, the military said.
Authorities say several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven people who drowned have been recovered, and 10 of those rescued are reported to be in serious condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
An Established Corridor
The Gambia is a frequent corridor used by migrants trying to reach European countries, often on hazardous voyages by sea and land.
In recent years, the EU has forged deals with several Maghreb states with the goal of curtailing undocumented migration.
