At least seven individuals have perished and numerous others are lost in the wake of a boat carrying about two hundred migrants trying to get to the European continent overturned off the coast of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The vessel capsized in the early hours of Thursday close to the village of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The hazardous trip over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants attempting to get to Europe.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canaries in last year and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals perished trying.
Ongoing Mission
In the aftermath of the disaster, the navy initiated a search operation, using multiple navy ships and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military confirmed.
Authorities say some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their details are still being checked.
The remains of the seven individuals who died have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are reported to be in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is one of the routes taken by asylum seekers trying to reach European countries, often on perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has forged deals with a number of Maghreb states with the goal of curtailing undocumented migration.
