No fewer than seven people have died and numerous others are missing after a vessel carrying about two hundred migrants seeking to enter Europe overturned near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, reports confirm.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday close to the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
96 individuals have been rescued so far and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were on board the sunken boat that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Nearly 47,000 people made it to the Canary Islands in last year and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals have lost their lives trying.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces began a rescue mission, using multiple navy ships and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the military reported.
Reports indicate some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their identities are still being verified.
The deceased of the seven victims who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are described as being in critical condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is a common pathway taken by migrants trying to reach Europe, often on dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has reached agreements with a number of North African nations aimed at reducing illegal migration.
