Press Release:
The Ministry of Youth and Sports joins H.E The President and the entire people of The Gambia in expressing our great shock and sadness at the tragic events that have befallen Gambian youth on a tragic boat accident off the coast of Mauritania on December 4, 2019.
According to reports, the boat said to be carrying 195 people departed the coast of The Gambia on November 27, 2019, in Barra, North Bank Region. It’s now been confirmed that 63 of them on board are dead and 11 among them are women.
We regret and mourn the death of these young people; it’s an irreplaceable loss to The Gambia and her people.
The Ministry is committed to the empowerment and development of the Gambian youth and will continue to work with development partners to provide enough opportunity for our young people.
We urge young people to take advantage of the opportunities provided to them by the government through the ministry and its satellite institutions and other youth projects.
The ministry through its satellite institution will scale-up its advocacy on irregular migration and safe alternative of migration.
Our heartfelt condolence goes to the families of departed souls and we pray for Allah to give them the strength to accept this great loss; not only to the affected families but the entire nation.
We wish to join the President and the entire Government in extending our condolence and reaffirming the government’s commitment to investigate the incident and ensure the safe return of the survivors.
