No fewer than seven souls have perished and many others are missing following a boat transporting approximately two hundred migrants attempting to reach European shores overturned off the coast of the Gambian coast, officials state.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight near the village of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a search is continuing for other passengers who were traveling on the capsized craft that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for migrants from Africa trying to reach Europe.
Close to 47,000 people made it to the Canary Islands in last year and estimates more than 9,000 people have died during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, Gambia's naval forces began a search-and-rescue operation, involving a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the defence ministry reported.
Officials state a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven people who died were found, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
This West African nation is a frequent corridor taken by migrants seeking to get to the EU, frequently via dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
In recent years, the EU has established pacts with several Maghreb states with the goal of curtailing illegal migration.
