No fewer than seven individuals have died and numerous others are lost in the wake of a craft transporting approximately two hundred people trying to get to European shores sank near the shoreline of The Gambia, authorities say.
The craft flipped late Wednesday night close to Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
96 individuals have been saved to date and a search is continuing for other passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants attempting to get to Europe.
Close to 47,000 individuals reached the Canaries in the year 2024 and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals perished trying.
Search and Rescue Efforts
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces launched a search-and-rescue operation, using multiple navy ships and a fishing boat that offered help, the defense officials confirmed.
Authorities say several of the victims are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven victims who perished at sea were found, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
This West African nation is one of the routes utilized by migrants seeking to get to the EU, frequently via hazardous voyages over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has reached agreements with several North African countries with the goal of curtailing irregular migration.
