Dozens Missing Following Craft Carrying Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Sinks in waters off the Gambian coast.
At least seven souls have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for after a craft transporting approximately two hundred migrants trying to get to Europe overturned near the shoreline of The Gambia, officials state.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.
Ninety-six people have been rescued so far and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Nearly 47,000 people arrived at the Canaries in last year and figures suggest more than 9,000 migrants have lost their lives in the attempt.
Search and Rescue Efforts
After Wednesday's accident, Gambia's naval forces began a rescue mission, deploying several naval vessels and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The deceased of the seven people who died have been recovered, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in grave health and undergoing emergency treatment.
An Established Corridor
The Gambia is one of the routes used by migrants seeking to get to Europe, frequently via dangerous journeys by sea and land.
In recent years, the European Union has forged deals with a number of North African nations with the goal of reducing irregular migration.
