A minimum of seven souls lost their lives and numerous others are lost after a vessel transporting around two hundred people trying to get to European shores capsized off the coast of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of Jinack village in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for other passengers who were on board the sunken boat that was heading towards the Spanish Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers attempting to get to Europe.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canaries in last year and data indicates in excess of nine thousand individuals have died in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, The Gambian Navy initiated a search operation, involving several naval vessels and a fishing boat that offered help, the military said.
Reports indicate a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are described as being in grave health and getting immediate medical attention.
An Established Corridor
The Gambia is one of the routes utilized by migrants trying to reach European countries, frequently via perilous trips by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has established pacts with multiple North African countries aimed at reducing undocumented migration.
