No fewer than seven people lost their lives and a significant number remain unaccounted for in the wake of a vessel transporting about two hundred people seeking to enter European shores sank in waters near Gambia, reports confirm.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African migrants seeking entry into European nations.
Almost 47,000 individuals made it to the Canary Islands in last year and data indicates more than 9,000 migrants perished during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces began a search operation, involving multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the defense officials said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven individuals who drowned were found, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in serious condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
Gambia is a common pathway taken by migrants trying to reach the EU, typically through hazardous voyages across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has reached agreements with several North African nations with the goal of limiting illegal migration.
