The boat went over around midnight on Thursday, off the coast of The Gambia’s North Bank region, with more than 200 people aboard. By the time the Ministry of Defence issued its first statement, seven bodies had been recovered and at least 96 survivors pulled out, many of them badly hurt. Dozens more were unaccounted for.
A distress call set the response in motion. The Gambian navy sent several vessels after midnight, and a fishing boat joined the search. Rescuers later found the wreck “grounded into a sandbank,” the ministry said. What caused the capsizing has not been made clear.
In a televised address, President Adama Barrow put the number of rescued at 102 and said the boat went down near the village of Jinack. Volunteers, emergency crews and local fishermen have since joined the hunt for those still missing.
“The national emergency response plan has been activated and the government has deployed adequate resources to intensify efforts and provide assistance to the survivors,” Barrow said.
The survivors
Some of the 102 survivors need critical medical care, according to Barrow. Reporting from Brussels Morning said 39 of them were admitted to hospital with injuries, dehydration, hypothermia and trauma, while 57 others were treated in the field at a civilian base, where they received wound care and fluids. The same account said international aid groups including the IFRC were helping with psychological support and disease monitoring.
Several of the dead were not Gambian, the Defence Ministry said, and officials are working to confirm who they were.
Speaking to families, Barrow promised a full inquiry and called the disaster a “painful reminder of the dangerous and life-threatening nature of irregular migration.” He added: “The 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.”
A route with a long death toll
The Gambia has become a launch point for people trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands by boat from West Africa. The crossing is one of the deadliest in the world. The European Union says more than 46,000 migrants reached the islands in 2024, and the rights group Caminando Fronteras counted more than 10,000 deaths on the Atlantic route, a 58 percent rise over 2023.
Numbers have fallen recently. Frontex reported that irregular migration into the EU along the West African route dropped 60 percent in the first 11 months of 2025, and credited stronger prevention efforts by countries that migrants leave from. Even so, people keep boarding flimsy and overloaded boats.
Earlier accidents were severe. A boat from The Gambia capsized near Mauritania in August 2025, leaving more than 150 passengers dead or missing. In July 2024, more than a dozen migrants were killed in a similar accident and 150 more were reported missing. In May, seven women and girls died when a small boat carrying more than 100 people capsized as it approached the Canary Islands.
Sources
- Dozens feared missing after migrant boat capsizes for Europe
- At least seven dead, dozens missing as migrant boat capsizes off The Gambia
