At least seven people lost their lives and many others are lost following a craft transporting about 200 people trying to get to European shores sank near the shoreline of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight close to the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry stated in a release.
Ninety-six people were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for other passengers who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain.
The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants attempting to get to European nations.
Nearly forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canary Islands in last year and estimates in excess of nine thousand individuals perished trying.
Rescue Operation
In the aftermath of the disaster, the navy initiated a search-and-rescue operation, using a number of military boats and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the defense officials said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their details are still being checked.
The remains of the seven people who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in critical condition and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
The Gambia is a common pathway utilized by asylum seekers seeking to get to European countries, often on perilous trips across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European bloc has established pacts with a number of Maghreb states aimed at limiting undocumented migration.
