A minimum of seven individuals have perished and a significant number are missing after a craft carrying about 200 migrants trying to get to European shores overturned off the coast of Gambia, reports confirm.
The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday near Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was later found "beached on a shoal", the country's defence ministry announced officially.
Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were aboard the capsized craft that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African migrants seeking entry into the EU.
Close to forty-seven thousand migrants made it to the Spanish archipelago in last year and estimates more than nine thousand individuals have died during the journey.
Search and Rescue Efforts
After Wednesday's accident, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, deploying several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defence ministry reported.
Officials state some of the deceased are foreign nationals and that their identities are still being verified.
The remains of the seven people who perished at sea have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are reported to be in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
Gambia is one of the routes utilized by migrants seeking to get to the EU, often on dangerous journeys across ocean and terrain.
Over the past few years, the European Union has reached agreements with several North African nations with the goal of reducing undocumented migration.
