No fewer than seven people have perished and numerous others are lost in the wake of a craft transporting around two hundred migrants trying to get to European shores sank near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, officials state.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African asylum seekers attempting to get to European nations.
Nearly 47,000 people made it to the Canary Islands in last year and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals perished trying.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces launched a rescue mission, using several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the military confirmed.
Officials state a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven individuals who drowned have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are said to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
Gambia is a common pathway used by migrants seeking to get to European countries, typically through hazardous voyages by sea and land.
Recently, the European bloc has forged deals with multiple North African nations with the goal of limiting irregular migration.
