Seven bodies were recovered and 96 people rescued after a boat potentially carrying more than 200 migrants capsized overnight in northwest Gambia, the country's defence ministry said on Thursday, adding search and recovery operations were continuing.

It was the latest deadly incident along one of the world's most dangerous migrant routes frequented mostly by West Africans trying to reach Spain via the Canary Islands.

The boat was reported to have capsized around midnight in the vicinity of a village in Gambia's North Bank region, and it was later found "grounded on a sandbank," the defence ministry said in the statement.

The subsequent rescue mission involved three naval speedboats, a coastal patrol vessel and "a local fishing canoe" whose operators volunteered to help, the statement said.

Ten of the rescued migrants were in critical condition and receiving urgent medical attention, it said, without giving their nationalities.

More than 46,000 irregular migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024, a record, according to the European Union. More than 10,000 died attempting the journey, a 58% increase over 2023, according to the rights group Caminando Fronteras.

However, during the first 11 months of 2025, irregular migration into the European Union along the West African route fell 60%, according to the EU's border agency Frontex.

The drop is largely due to stronger prevention efforts by departure countries working with EU member states, Frontex has said.

At least 70 people were killed in August 2025 when a boat believed to have departed from Gambia carrying migrants capsized in one of the deadliest accidents in recent years. (Reuters)

• The boat was reported to have capsized around midnight in the vicinity of a village in Gambia’s North Bank region and it later found “grounded on a sandbank”, Gambia's defence ministry said. Stock photo. (123RF/Paul Fleet)