Numerous People Missing Following Boat Holding Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Capsizes in waters off Gambia.
A minimum of seven individuals have perished and numerous others are missing after a craft ferrying around two hundred migrants trying to get to European shores capsized near the shoreline of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the northern bank region and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for those still missing who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African asylum seekers seeking entry into the EU.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canaries in last year and estimates more than nine thousand individuals have lost their lives in the attempt.
Ongoing Mission
In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, using several naval vessels and a fishing boat that came to assist, the defence ministry reported.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The deceased of the seven individuals who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
Gambia is one of the routes used by migrants seeking to get to the EU, frequently via dangerous journeys by sea and land.
Over the past few years, the EU has reached agreements with several North African countries aimed at curtailing undocumented migration.
