Scores Missing Following Craft Carrying Two Hundred Asylum Seekers Capsizes near the coast of the Gambian coast.

No fewer than seven individuals lost their lives and many others are missing after a craft transporting about two hundred people trying to get to Europe capsized in waters near the Gambian coast, officials state.

The craft flipped in the early hours of Thursday near Jinack in the North Bank area and it was subsequently discovered "beached on a shoal", the Gambian military authorities stated in a release.

Ninety-six people have been saved to date and a rescue operation continues for the remaining passengers who were aboard the shipwrecked vessel that was bound for the Canary Islands of Spain.

The hazardous trip over the the Atlantic has grown into a more frequent path for African migrants trying to reach the EU.

Close to 47,000 individuals arrived at the Spanish archipelago in last year and figures suggest in excess of 9,000 people perished trying.

Rescue Operation

In the aftermath of the disaster, The Gambian Navy initiated a rescue mission, involving a number of military boats and a fishing boat that came to assist, the defence ministry confirmed.

Authorities say some of the deceased are foreign nationals and that their identities are still being verified.

The bodies of the seven people who drowned have been retrieved, and a dozen of the saved are described as being in grave health and receiving urgent medical care.

A Common Migration Route

The Gambia is a frequent corridor utilized by asylum seekers seeking to get to European countries, frequently via perilous trips over water and land.

Recently, the European bloc has established pacts with several North African nations designed to reducing illegal migration.