The boat, a long wooden fishing vessel, was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean off the western shores of Africa, approximately 150 nautical miles (277 kilometers) from Cape Verde's Sal island.

The IOM said that 38 survivors have been rescued, including four children aged between 12 and 16. However, the fate of the remaining passengers, who are estimated to number 100, remains unknown.

Search and rescue teams have so far retrieved the remains of seven individuals. However, the IOM said that it is likely that many more people have perished.

The boat is believed to have departed from Senegal on July 10th. The exact timeline of the incident is unclear, but survivors said that the boat capsized after several days at sea.

The Atlantic migration route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the most perilous in the world. The IOM said that the absence of safe and legal migration pathways forces desperate people to take these risky journeys.

In 2022, a staggering 559 people lost their lives attempting to reach the Canary Islands. Similarly, during the first six months of the current year, 126 individuals either died or went missing while attempting the same route.

The IOM has called for urgent action to address the humanitarian crisis on the Atlantic migration route. The organization said that more needs to be done to provide safe and legal pathways for migration, and to crack down on the smuggling and trafficking of migrants.

The incident is the latest in a series of tragedies involving migrant boats in the Atlantic Ocean. In June, a boat carrying over 100 migrants capsized off the coast of Morocco, leaving at least 23 people dead.

The IOM has warned that the number of migrant deaths in the Atlantic is likely to increase in the coming months, as more people attempt to reach Europe by sea. (ILKHA)