Numerous People Unaccounted For After Vessel Transporting Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Goes Down near the coast of Gambia.
At least seven individuals lost their lives and numerous others are lost following a boat carrying about two hundred migrants seeking to enter European shores sank off the coast of Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight close to the village of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for the remaining passengers who were aboard the sunken boat that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers attempting to get to the EU.
Almost 47,000 people reached the Canary Islands in the year 2024 and estimates in excess of 9,000 people have died during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy began a search-and-rescue operation, deploying multiple navy ships and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the defense officials said.
Officials state several of the victims are foreign nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven people who drowned have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
This West African nation is a common pathway utilized by migrants seeking to get to Europe, typically through dangerous journeys over water and land.
In recent years, the EU has established pacts with multiple North African nations with the goal of limiting undocumented migration.
