Dozens Missing Following Vessel Holding Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Sinks off the Gambian coast.
No fewer than seven individuals have perished and a significant number are lost after a vessel carrying about 200 people seeking to enter Europe sank in waters near The Gambia, authorities say.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the North Bank area and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for the remaining passengers who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers seeking entry into Europe.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canary Islands in 2024 and figures suggest more than nine thousand individuals have died trying.
Ongoing Mission
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy initiated a search-and-rescue operation, deploying a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the military said.
Officials state several of the victims are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The remains of the seven victims who drowned were found, and 10 of those rescued are described as being in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
Gambia is a frequent corridor taken by asylum seekers seeking to get to European countries, frequently via dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
In recent years, the European Union has forged deals with multiple North African countries with the goal of reducing undocumented migration.
