🔗 Share this article Scores Unaccounted For Following Boat Carrying 200 Asylum Seekers Capsizes off Gambia. The shipwrecked vessel was found aground on a sandbank, according to statements. No fewer than seven people have perished and many others are lost in the wake of a craft carrying around two hundred migrants seeking to enter Europe capsized in waters near The Gambia, officials state. The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday near the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the country's defence ministry announced officially. 96 individuals were pulled to safety and a search is continuing for those still missing who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain. The perilous journey over the the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African asylum seekers seeking entry into Europe. Close to forty-seven thousand migrants arrived at the Canaries in last year and figures suggest over nine thousand individuals have lost their lives trying. Rescue Operation After Wednesday's accident, Gambia's naval forces launched a search operation, deploying a number of military boats and a commercial fishing craft that joined the effort, the defense officials said. Reports indicate a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their nationalities are still under confirmation. The bodies of the seven individuals who drowned have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are described as being in critical condition and getting immediate medical attention. An Established Corridor The Gambia is one of the routes utilized by migrants trying to reach European countries, typically through dangerous journeys over water and land. In recent years, the European bloc has established pacts with multiple North African countries with the goal of curtailing undocumented migration.