Scores Unaccounted For After Boat Transporting 200 Asylum Seekers Goes Down in waters off Gambia.
No fewer than seven people have perished and many others remain unaccounted for in the wake of a vessel transporting about two hundred people trying to get to the European continent sank near the shoreline of the Gambian coast, officials state.
The craft flipped on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the northern bank region and it was subsequently discovered "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities said in a statement.
Ninety-six people were pulled to safety and a rescue operation continues for the remaining passengers who were aboard the sunken boat that was heading towards the Canary Islands of Spain.
The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has emerged as a rising pathway for African asylum seekers trying to reach Europe.
Nearly 47,000 individuals made it to the Spanish archipelago in last year and figures suggest in excess of nine thousand individuals have died during the journey.
Ongoing Mission
After Wednesday's accident, the navy began a search operation, deploying a number of military boats and a fishing vessel that came to assist, the defense officials said.
Authorities say a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their identities are still being verified.
The bodies of the seven people who perished at sea have been recovered, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.
An Established Corridor
The Gambia is a common pathway taken by asylum seekers trying to reach the EU, often on hazardous voyages over water and land.
Over the past few years, the European Union has established pacts with a number of Maghreb states designed to reducing illegal migration.
