At least 195 migrants majority of whom are believed to be Gambians were reportedly onboard a boat that capsized off the coast off Mauritania on Wednesday.
At least 77 Gambians are now known to have survived the Wednesday boat accident off the coast off Mauritania, the spokesperson of the foreign ministry, Saikou Ceesay, has informed Kerr Fatou.
Ceesay said 83 people survived the boat wreck including 77 Gambians and 6 Senegalese. There were 19 Senegalese among the 195 migrants onboard the boat.
It is unclear how many Gambians were in the boat in total. However, the higher rate of Gambians among the survivors suggest the majority onboard the boat were Gambians.
There are unconfirmed reports that the boat left the Gambia from the shoreline of Barra on November 27.
Majority of the people in the boat are reportedly natives of Essau and Barra, according to unconfirmed media reports.
The survivors are currently recovering at Nouadhibou hospital, said Saikou Ceesay.
Ceesay said the authorities have initiated efforts to identify Gambians among the 58 who were killed and the 54 that are unaccounted for.
“Our Ambassador and his team are on the ground with a view to ascertaining the number of migrants who may have been involved in the accident,” said Saikou Ceesay.
“This is a very serious matter because it involves deaths, therefore, the Ministry cannot afford to give conflicting information. We will update the press as soon as we get accurate data that confirms the identity of our nationals among others.”
Kerr Fatou has learned that the national security council has convened a meeting over the accident this morning. There are unconfirm reports that some dead migrants whose remains started to decompose were buried.