Numerous People Lost Following Boat Transporting 200 Asylum Seekers Sinks in waters off The Gambia.

No fewer than seven people have died and numerous others are missing following a craft transporting approximately two hundred migrants trying to get to the European continent overturned near the shoreline of The Gambia, reports confirm.

The boat overturned in the early hours of Thursday near Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was subsequently discovered "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry announced officially.

Nearly one hundred people have been rescued so far and a hunt is ongoing for those still missing who were traveling on the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to the Canary Islands of Spain.

The perilous journey over the Atlantic has become an increasingly common route for African migrants attempting to get to the EU.

Nearly 47,000 people arrived at the Spanish archipelago in last year and data indicates in excess of 9,000 migrants have died during the journey.

Ongoing Mission

In the aftermath of the disaster, Gambia's naval forces initiated a search operation, involving several naval vessels and a commercial fishing craft that offered help, the defence ministry confirmed.

Reports indicate a number of those who died are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation.

The remains of the seven individuals who perished at sea were found, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in serious condition and getting immediate medical attention.

A Common Migration Route

The Gambia is one of the routes taken by asylum seekers trying to reach the EU, often on hazardous voyages across ocean and terrain.

Over the past few years, the EU has reached agreements with several North African nations designed to limiting irregular migration.