A minimum of seven people have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a craft carrying around two hundred people attempting to reach European shores overturned off the coast of Gambia, officials state.
The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the northern bank region and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.
The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants trying to reach the EU.
Close to 47,000 people reached the Canary Islands in last year and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals have died during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Following the Wednesday incident, the navy began a rescue mission, deploying a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the defence ministry reported.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven people who perished at sea were found, and 10 of those rescued are described as being in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
A Frequent Pathway
The Gambia is one of the routes taken by migrants attempting to enter the EU, often on dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
Recently, the European bloc has established pacts with a number of North African countries with the goal of curtailing illegal migration.
