Scores Missing Following Vessel Transporting Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Capsizes near the coast of Gambia.
No fewer than seven souls have perished and numerous others remain unaccounted for after a vessel transporting around two hundred people trying to get to the European continent overturned off the coast of the Gambian coast, officials state.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight near Jinack village in the northern bank region and it was subsequently discovered "grounded on a sandbank", the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a rescue operation continues for other passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for migrants from Africa attempting to get to Europe.
Nearly 47,000 people made it to the Canaries in 2024 and estimates over 9,000 people have died in the attempt.
Ongoing Mission
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy launched a rescue mission, deploying multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the military reported.
Authorities say several of the victims are foreign nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven victims who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
This West African nation is a common pathway used by asylum seekers trying to reach European countries, frequently via hazardous voyages across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has reached agreements with a number of North African nations designed to curtailing irregular migration.
