BANJUL: Dozens are missing after a boat carrying more than 200 migrants on their way to Europe capsized off the coast of Gambia, the West African nation\u2019s leader said late Friday, setting off a frantic search and rescue operation.<\/p>\n
At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year\u2019s Eve in northwest Gambia\u2019s North Bank region, Gambian President Adama Barrow said in a state broadcast.<\/p>\n
The emergency services were joined by local fishermen and other volunteers in searching for the victims, days after Wednesday\u2019s incident near the village of Jinack, he said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Africans desperate for better opportunities in Europe risk their lives traveling on boats along the Atlantic coast, one of the world\u2019s deadliest migrant routes that connects the West African coast across Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.<\/p>\n
Many migrants seeking to reach Spain via the Canary Islands never make it due to high risks of boats capsizing. In August 2025, around 150 people were either dead or missing after their boat that came from Gambia capsized off the coast of Mauritania. A similar incident in July 2024 killed more than a dozen migrants with 150 others declared missing.<\/p>\n
It was not clear what led to the latest tragedy. Gambia\u2019s Ministry of Defense said the boat was found \u201cgrounded on a sandbank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe national emergency response plan has been activated and the government has deployed adequate resources to intensify efforts and provide assistance to the survivors,\u201d Barrow said.<\/p>\n
Some of the 102 survivors were undergoing urgent medical care, the Gambian leader said.<\/p>\n
As he condoled with families, Barrow vowed a full investigation and called the accident a \u201cpainful reminder of the dangerous and life-threatening nature of irregular migration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government will strengthen efforts to prevent irregular migration and remains determined to create safer and more dignified opportunities for young people to fulfil their dreams,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BANJUL: Dozens are missing after a boat carrying more than 200 migrants on their way to Europe capsized off the coast of Gambia, the West African nation\u2019s leader said late Friday, setting off a frantic search and rescue operation. At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":91811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91812,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91795\/revisions\/91812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}