More than hundred Gambian migrants are feared to have died after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania while travelling to Europe.

The boat is believed to have left Kartong on 14 November over hundred Gambian migrants and some other nationalities.

Speaking to Gambiana exclusively, Ebrima Drammeh, Italy-based Gambian migrant rights activist, confirmed that there were 150 migrants on the boat and that 120 of them were Gambian nationals.  

“The statistics we get is that there were 120 Gambians on that boat. There were estimated 150 migrants on the boat and 120 of them were Gambians. There was no survival in that boat. They all died. No one survived,” he said.

The tragic boat accident followed October’s boat disaster that claimed lives of more than 20 Gambian migrants.

President Adama Barrow has vowed to punish people transporting youths to Europe through the perilous backway with life imprisonment, adding that his government will soon table a bill in parliament tackle this issue. 

The Gambia has been rocked with mass exodus of youths embarking on the sea journey to Europe locally called ‘backway’ as high cost of living and unemployment surge.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba