🔗 Share this article Numerous People Lost Following Craft Holding 200 Asylum Seekers Goes Down off The Gambia. The shipwrecked vessel was found aground on a sandbank, officials report. At least seven individuals lost their lives and a significant number are missing following a craft ferrying approximately two hundred migrants seeking to enter European shores overturned off the coast of Gambia, officials state. The vessel capsized late Wednesday night close to Jinack village in the North Bank area and it was afterwards located "stranded on a sandbar", the nation's defense ministry said in a statement. 96 individuals have been saved to date and a search is continuing for those still missing who were on board the capsized craft that was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands. The perilous journey over the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African asylum seekers seeking entry into Europe. Close to forty-seven thousand migrants reached the Canaries in last year and figures suggest in excess of 9,000 migrants perished in the attempt. Ongoing Mission In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy began a search-and-rescue operation, using a number of military boats and a fishing boat that joined the effort, the military said. Reports indicate some of the deceased are not from The Gambia and that their nationalities are still under confirmation. The bodies of the seven people who died have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are said to be in serious condition and undergoing emergency treatment. An Established Corridor The Gambia is one of the routes used by migrants trying to reach the EU, frequently via hazardous voyages by sea and land. Over the past few years, the European Union has reached agreements with several Maghreb states designed to reducing irregular migration.