Numerous People Unaccounted For After Boat Transporting 200 Asylum Seekers Goes Down near the coast of Gambia.

No fewer than seven souls have perished and numerous others are missing in the wake of a craft transporting around 200 migrants seeking to enter European shores sank in waters near Gambia, authorities say.

The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight in the vicinity of the village of Jinack in the North Bank Region and it was afterwards located "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities announced officially.

Nearly one hundred people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for those still missing who were on board the shipwrecked vessel that was en route to Spain's Canary Islands.

The perilous journey over the Atlantic Ocean has emerged as a rising pathway for migrants from Africa attempting to get to the EU.

Nearly 47,000 individuals reached the Canaries in last year and data indicates in excess of 9,000 people have died trying.

Ongoing Mission

In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, using several naval vessels and a fishing boat that came to assist, the military reported.

Reports indicate a number of those who died are foreign nationals and that their identities are still being verified.

The remains of the seven people who drowned have been retrieved, and ten of the survivors are reported to be in serious condition and receiving urgent medical care.

An Established Corridor

Gambia is a frequent corridor used by migrants seeking to get to European countries, often on hazardous voyages by sea and land.

Over the past few years, the European Union has reached agreements with multiple Maghreb states designed to limiting irregular migration.