No fewer than seven individuals have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a boat ferrying approximately two hundred migrants trying to get to Europe capsized near the shoreline of Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers attempting to get to Europe.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canaries in last year and estimates in excess of 9,000 migrants have lost their lives during the journey.
Rescue Operation
After Wednesday's accident, the navy launched a rescue mission, involving several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the defense officials reported.
Officials state a number of those who died are foreign 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 serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is a common pathway taken by migrants trying to reach the EU, frequently via perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has forged deals with several North African countries designed to reducing undocumented migration.
