Dozens Unaccounted For After Craft Transporting Two Hundred Migrants Sinks in waters off Gambia.
No fewer than seven people have perished and many others are lost in the wake of a vessel transporting around two hundred people trying to get to the European continent overturned in waters near the Gambian coast, officials state.
The boat overturned in the early hours of Thursday near Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for those still missing who were on board the sunken boat that was bound for Spain's Canary Islands.
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 individuals made it to the Canaries in last year and figures suggest more than 9,000 people have died in the attempt.
Rescue Operation
After Wednesday's accident, the navy initiated a search operation, deploying a number of military boats and a fishing boat that came to assist, the military confirmed.
Reports indicate some of the deceased are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven people who perished at sea have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are said to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
The Gambia is one of the routes used by asylum seekers trying to reach European countries, often on hazardous voyages across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European Union has established pacts with a number of North African countries with the goal of curtailing irregular migration.
