🔗 Share this article Numerous People Unaccounted For After Craft Carrying 200 Asylum Seekers Sinks off the Gambian coast. Authorities located the stricken boat stranded on a shoal, authorities say. No fewer than seven souls have died and a significant number remain unaccounted for following a craft ferrying approximately 200 migrants trying to get to European shores sank off the coast of Gambia, reports confirm. The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday near the village of Jinack in the North Bank area and it was later found "grounded on a sandbank", 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 aboard the capsized craft that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain. The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has emerged as a rising pathway for African migrants seeking entry into the EU. Almost forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Spanish archipelago in the year 2024 and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals have lost their lives in the attempt. Search and Rescue Efforts In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces launched a search operation, involving multiple navy ships and a fishing vessel that joined the effort, the military said. Authorities say some of the deceased are not Gambian nationals and that their details are still being checked. The bodies of the seven victims who perished at sea have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are reported to be in grave health and receiving urgent medical care. A Frequent Pathway The Gambia is one of the routes utilized by asylum seekers seeking to get to Europe, often on perilous trips across ocean and terrain. Recently, the European Union has forged deals with several North African nations with the goal of curtailing irregular migration.