A minimum of seven people lost their lives and a significant number remain unaccounted for in the wake of a vessel carrying about two hundred migrants seeking to enter European shores overturned off the coast of Gambia, authorities say.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight near Jinack in the northern bank region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
96 individuals have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for those still missing who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa attempting to get to the EU.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Spanish archipelago in 2024 and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals have died trying.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces began a search-and-rescue operation, deploying several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defense officials reported.
Officials state some of the deceased are foreign nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven victims who died have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are said to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
The Gambia is one of the routes taken by migrants attempting to enter European countries, typically through hazardous voyages by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has forged deals with multiple North African countries designed to limiting undocumented migration.
