Dozens Missing Following Boat Carrying 200 Asylum Seekers Goes Down near the coast of The Gambia.
At least seven individuals have perished and many others are missing in the wake of a vessel ferrying around two hundred migrants seeking to enter the European continent overturned off the coast of the Gambian coast, reports confirm.
The vessel capsized in the early hours of Thursday close to Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
96 individuals have been saved to date and a search is continuing for those still missing who were aboard the sunken boat that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers seeking entry into the EU.
Nearly 47,000 people reached the Spanish archipelago in the year 2024 and data indicates over 9,000 people have lost their lives during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, The Gambian Navy launched a search operation, using multiple navy ships and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military confirmed.
Reports indicate some of the deceased are foreign nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are described as being in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is a frequent corridor taken by asylum seekers trying to reach the EU, typically through perilous trips over water and land.
Recently, the European Union has reached agreements with multiple North African nations aimed at curtailing undocumented migration.
