A minimum of seven individuals have died and many others are missing following a craft carrying around two hundred migrants trying to get to European shores sank near the shoreline of Gambia, authorities say.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the northern bank region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the country's defence ministry stated in a release.
Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for other passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers attempting to get to the EU.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canary Islands in last year and data indicates in excess of nine thousand individuals have lost their lives in the attempt.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, Gambia's naval forces initiated a rescue mission, deploying a number of military boats and a fishing boat that came to assist, the defence ministry reported.
Reports indicate a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been recovered, and 10 of those rescued are reported to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is a common pathway taken by asylum seekers attempting to enter Europe, often on perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has reached agreements with multiple Maghreb states designed to curtailing undocumented migration.
