Scores Unaccounted For After Vessel Holding 200 Asylum Seekers Sinks in waters off Gambia.
No fewer than seven souls have died and a significant number are missing after a boat transporting about two hundred people attempting to reach the European continent overturned off the coast of The Gambia, officials state.
The boat overturned late Wednesday night in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the country's defence ministry said in a statement.
Ninety-six people were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the sunken boat that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers trying to reach the EU.
Almost 47,000 individuals reached the Spanish archipelago in last year and estimates in excess of 9,000 migrants have died during the journey.
Rescue Operation
Following the Wednesday incident, Gambia's naval forces began a search operation, using a number of military boats and a fishing vessel that offered help, the defence ministry said.
Officials state a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.
The remains of the seven victims who died have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are said to be in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
A Frequent Pathway
This West African nation is a common pathway used by migrants trying to reach the EU, often on dangerous journeys over water and land.
Recently, the EU has forged deals with multiple North African nations with the goal of curtailing illegal migration.