At least seven souls have died and numerous others are missing following a vessel transporting approximately two hundred migrants seeking to enter European shores overturned near the shoreline of Gambia, authorities say.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday midnight close to Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the country's defence ministry announced officially.
96 individuals have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for the remaining passengers who were aboard the sunken boat that was bound for the Spanish Canary Islands.
The dangerous voyage over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canaries in last year and figures suggest in excess of 9,000 people have died during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy launched a search operation, involving several naval vessels and a fishing boat that came to assist, the defence ministry said.
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 drowned have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Common Migration Route
This West African nation is one of the routes taken by migrants trying to reach European countries, frequently via perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has established pacts with multiple North African nations with the goal of curtailing illegal migration.
