7 Dead, Dozens Missing After Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Gambia Coast
A boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsized off Gambia’s Atlantic coast around midnight on New Year’s Eve, killing at least seven people and leaving dozens missing. The Gambian navy launched a search-and-rescue operation, pulling 96 survivors from the water.
I’ve reported on migration for years. These stories never get easier to write. Each one represents families who made impossible calculations about risk and hope, and people who didn’t make it to the other side.
What We Know
The vessel capsized near Jinack village in Gambia’s North Bank Region, according to the Ministry of Defence. It was attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, the same destination that thousands of migrants attempt every year despite the route being among the deadliest in the world.
Seven bodies were recovered. Ninety-six people were rescued, many with serious injuries. Ten of the survivors were listed in critical condition and rushed to hospitals for urgent treatment. The whereabouts of remaining passengers — possibly dozens more — remain unknown.
The Gambian navy deployed multiple vessels after receiving distress calls, with support from local fishing boats that came to assist. The capsized boat was eventually located “grounded on a sandbank,” according to the ministry statement.
Several of the victims are confirmed to be non-Gambian nationals. Authorities are working to verify identities.
The Numbers That Haunt This Route
The Atlantic migration route from West Africa to the Canary Islands has claimed thousands of lives. Here are the statistics that don’t make international headlines until there’s a disaster:
More than 10,000 people died attempting this crossing in 2024. That’s a 58% increase over 2023, according to the Spanish rights group Caminando Fronteras. Ten thousand people.
More than 46,000 migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024, a record number according to the European Union.
In August 2025, at least 70 people were killed when a migrant boat believed to have departed from Gambia capsized off the West African coast. That was one of the deadliest incidents in recent years — until now.
The Canary Islands are Spanish territory, which means reaching them is reaching Europe. From there, asylum claims can be filed. From there, the chance of a different life. That’s what makes people get on overcrowded wooden boats at night and attempt a crossing that kills roughly one in five who attempt it.
Why People Keep Going
I think it’s important to understand why this keeps happening, because there’s a tendency to report these tragedies as if they’re weather events — things that simply occur, with no human agency involved.
People board these boats because they’re desperate. The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in Africa, with limited economic opportunities. Young people see migration to Europe as their only path to a future. Smuggling networks exploit that desperation, charging whatever people can scrape together for a spot on a vessel that may or may not survive the crossing.
The journey takes days in open water. The boats are often wooden, traditional fishing vessels never designed for ocean crossings. They’re overloaded. There are no safety provisions to speak of. When something goes wrong — and something almost always goes wrong — people die.
This isn’t abstract. These are mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters. People who said goodbye to families who might never learn what happened to them. Bodies that will never be recovered. Grief that will never fully resolve.
The European Response
Migration along the West African route actually fell 60% during the first 11 months of 2025, according to Frontex, the EU border agency. They credit “stronger prevention efforts by departure countries” for the drop.
Prevention efforts. That’s one way to describe it. Another way is to note that Europe has spent billions paying African governments to stop their citizens from leaving — creating a wall of enforcement along departure points rather than addressing why people feel they have no choice but to risk death.
The policy debate is complicated, and I’m not going to pretend there are easy answers. But when we talk about “prevention,” we should be clear about what that means: making it harder for desperate people to leave, without making their lives less desperate.
What Happens Now
Search operations continue. The Gambian navy and coast guard are still looking for survivors. Given the passage of time, the odds of finding anyone alive diminish by the hour.
Families in Gambia and beyond are waiting for news. Some won’t receive definitive word about what happened to their loved ones. The sea doesn’t give up all its secrets.
Meanwhile, somewhere along the Gambian coast, another boat is probably being prepared. Another group of people weighing the mathematics of staying versus going. Another smuggler collecting payment for a journey that promises everything and delivers, for too many, nothing but water and silence.
I’ve covered migration long enough to know this story won’t be the last. There will be another capsizing. Another drowning. Another count of dead and missing. The names change. The route stays deadly. The desperation that drives people onto those boats remains.
My thoughts are with the families tonight. All of them — in Gambia, and in whatever countries the non-Gambian victims called home. Seven confirmed dead is a headline. The actual loss is something words can’t capture.
Ray Caldwell has covered migration and humanitarian crises for over 25 years. Contact: rcaldwell@reportdoor.com
