🔗 Share this article Dozens Lost Following Craft Transporting Two Hundred Migrants Sinks near the coast of Gambia. Authorities located the stricken boat beached on a sandbar, according to statements. A minimum of seven individuals have perished and a significant number are missing after a boat ferrying around 200 migrants seeking to enter European shores sank near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, reports confirm. The boat overturned late Wednesday night in the vicinity of Jinack village in the northern bank region and it was later found "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry stated in a release. Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a search is continuing for the remaining passengers who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands. The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants attempting to get to Europe. Almost 47,000 individuals arrived at the Canary Islands in 2024 and figures suggest more than nine thousand individuals perished in the attempt. Ongoing Mission In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces began a rescue mission, using several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that came to assist, the military reported. Officials state some of the deceased are not Gambian nationals and that their identities are still being verified. The bodies of the seven individuals who drowned were found, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care. A Common Migration Route This West African nation is one of the routes utilized by migrants seeking to get to the EU, typically through hazardous voyages across ocean and terrain. In recent years, the EU has reached agreements with a number of North African nations aimed at reducing undocumented migration.