Scores Missing After Vessel Holding Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Goes Down in waters off Gambia.
At least seven individuals have perished and many others are lost in the wake of a boat ferrying around 200 people trying to get to the European continent capsized near the shoreline of Gambia, officials state.
The vessel capsized late Wednesday night in the vicinity of Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the country's defence ministry announced officially.
96 individuals were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for other passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic Ocean has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers attempting to get to European nations.
Close to 47,000 people reached the Canaries in the year 2024 and estimates in excess of 9,000 migrants have died during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy initiated a search-and-rescue operation, using a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military confirmed.
Officials state several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The deceased of the seven victims who perished at sea have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and getting immediate medical attention.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a common pathway taken by migrants seeking to get to the EU, often on dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
In recent years, the European bloc has reached agreements with multiple North African countries designed to reducing irregular migration.
