By Seedy Jobe
A migrant boat carrying more than 190 people, including at least 45 women and children, which departed from Niumi Jinack on November 17, 2025, is presumed to have sunk at sea with no survivors, according to migrant rights activist Ebrima Migrants Situation.
In a statement published on his official Facebook page on Wednesday, Ebrima said authorities and monitoring networks are “100 percent sure the boat has sunk and that no one survived.”
He explained that the vessel was neither intercepted nor sighted along known migration routes, noting that it did not reach Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Cape Verde, or Spain.
Ebrima warned that the tragedy is not an isolated case, recalling similar incidents involving migrant boats that departed from Kartong in October 2024 and October 2025. “This is not the first time things like this have happened in Gambia,” he said.
Meanwhile, efforts are ongoing to trace another migrant boat that reportedly left Niumi Jinack on December 5, 2025, carrying hundreds of people. Ebrima urged Gambians, particularly residents of coastal communities, to refrain from undertaking the dangerous journey.
“Please, people of Jinack and Gambia, this is not the right time for this journey. The weather conditions are very bad, and it’s very cold in the sea at the moment. Don’t risk your life because the agents are just business; they want to get rich,” he said.
The incident underscores the persistent dangers of irregular migration, particularly along the Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands, which remains one of the deadliest migration corridors in the world.