🔗 Share this article Dozens Lost Following Boat Carrying 200 Migrants Sinks in waters off the Gambian coast. Authorities located the stricken boat stranded on a shoal, officials report. At least seven individuals have died and numerous others remain unaccounted for in the wake of a vessel ferrying around two hundred migrants trying to get to Europe capsized near the shoreline of Gambia, officials state. The vessel capsized in the early hours of Thursday in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "grounded on a sandbank", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement. Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for other passengers who were on board the capsized craft that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands. The dangerous voyage over the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African asylum seekers attempting to get to the EU. Almost 47,000 people made it to the Canaries in 2024 and estimates over nine thousand individuals have died during the journey. Ongoing Mission Following the Wednesday incident, the navy launched a rescue mission, using a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defence ministry reported. Reports indicate a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation. The deceased of the seven individuals who died have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are reported to be in serious condition and getting immediate medical attention. An Established Corridor This West African nation is a common pathway taken by migrants attempting to enter 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 designed to reducing irregular migration.