A minimum of seven individuals have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a boat carrying about two hundred people seeking to enter the European continent overturned near the shoreline of The Gambia, authorities say.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack village in the North Bank Region and it was later found "beached on a shoal", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement.
Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants attempting to get to the EU.
Nearly 47,000 individuals made it to the Canary Islands in last year and data indicates over nine thousand individuals have died in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, deploying a number of military boats and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the defense officials confirmed.
Reports indicate a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven individuals who died have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in critical condition and undergoing emergency treatment.
An Established Corridor
This West African nation is one of the routes used by migrants trying to reach Europe, typically through perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
In recent years, the European Union has established pacts with a number of North African countries with the goal of limiting irregular migration.
