A minimum of seven souls have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for after a craft ferrying approximately two hundred people seeking to enter the European continent capsized off the coast of The Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was subsequently discovered "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a search is continuing for other passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants attempting to get to the EU.
Close to 47,000 individuals reached the Canaries in last year and figures suggest over nine thousand individuals have lost their lives trying.
Rescue Operation
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy initiated a search operation, using a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military reported.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their details are still being checked.
The bodies of the seven victims who drowned were found, and ten of the survivors are said to be in critical condition and getting immediate medical attention.
A Frequent Pathway
Gambia is one of the routes utilized by asylum seekers seeking to get to European countries, typically through dangerous journeys by sea and land.
Recently, the European bloc has established pacts with a number of Maghreb states aimed at limiting undocumented migration.
