Dozens Missing After Craft Holding Two Hundred Migrants Capsizes near the coast of Gambia.
At least seven souls have perished and many others are missing following a vessel ferrying around 200 people seeking to enter European shores sank in waters near The Gambia, authorities say.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight near the village of Jinack in the northern bank region and it was later found "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers attempting to get to European nations.
Almost forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canaries in 2024 and data indicates in excess of 9,000 migrants have died trying.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy initiated a search operation, using several naval vessels and a fishing vessel that offered help, the military said.
Officials state a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are reported to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
This West African nation is one of the routes used by asylum seekers trying to reach Europe, typically through dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the EU has reached agreements with several Maghreb states designed to curtailing irregular migration.
