A minimum of seven people have died and many others remain unaccounted for after a vessel ferrying around two hundred people trying to get to Europe overturned off the coast of The Gambia, officials state.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the northern bank region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for other passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for migrants from Africa attempting to get to the EU.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and data indicates in excess of 9,000 people have died in the attempt.
Rescue Operation
Following the Wednesday incident, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, using multiple navy ships and a fishing vessel that came to assist, the defence ministry confirmed.
Authorities say several of the victims are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The deceased of the seven individuals who died were found, and 10 of those rescued 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 Europe, often on dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
In recent years, the European Union has reached agreements with several North African nations with the goal of curtailing illegal migration.
