No fewer than seven souls lost their lives and many others are missing after a boat transporting about 200 people trying to get to Europe sank off the coast of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
Ninety-six people were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for those still missing who were on board the sunken boat that was bound for the Spanish Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants trying to reach European nations.
Nearly 47,000 individuals made it to the Canaries in 2024 and data indicates in excess of nine thousand individuals have lost their lives in the attempt.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces began a rescue mission, involving a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defence ministry reported.
Authorities say several of the victims are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven individuals who perished at sea have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are said to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
The Gambia is one of the routes taken by migrants seeking to get to the EU, often on dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has reached agreements with several North African countries designed to limiting undocumented migration.
