No fewer than seven souls have perished and numerous others are lost after a vessel transporting about 200 people attempting to reach Europe overturned near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, authorities say.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the North Bank area and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a search is continuing for other passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants attempting to get to European nations.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Spanish archipelago in 2024 and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals perished trying.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy launched a search-and-rescue operation, involving several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the defence ministry said.
Reports indicate some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven people who died have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Frequent Pathway
Gambia is a common pathway taken by migrants seeking to get to the EU, frequently via perilous trips over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has established pacts with multiple North African countries with the goal of limiting undocumented migration.
