At least seven souls have perished and many others are missing after a boat ferrying around two hundred migrants seeking to enter European shores capsized off the coast of the Gambian coast, authorities say.
The boat overturned in the early hours of Thursday close to Jinack village in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people were pulled to safety and a rescue operation continues for other passengers who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Almost 47,000 people arrived at the Canary Islands in last year and figures suggest more than nine thousand individuals perished in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, deploying several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the defence ministry said.
Officials state some of the deceased are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The bodies of the seven victims who died were found, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
The Gambia is one of the routes used by asylum seekers seeking to get to the EU, often on dangerous journeys over water and land.
In recent years, the European Union has forged deals with multiple Maghreb states aimed at curtailing illegal migration.
