Gambia goalkeeper drowned in Mediterranean trying to reach Europe

The Gambian women's national team goalkeeper has drowned while trying to cross from Libya to Europe on a boat.

Fatim Jawara, who was 19-years-old according to Fifa records, is thought to have died in Libyan waters last month, Gambia’s soccer federation spokesman Bakary B Baldeh said.

Her family has confirmed the news of her death.

Jawara was a member of the Gambia team that played at the under-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan in 2012.

She played for Gambia’s senior national team this year.

The UN refugee agency estimated at the end of last month that at least 3,740 migrants and refugees have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Speaking to the AFP news agency, Gambian football federation president Lamin Kaba Bajo said: “She will be remembered for saving a penalty kick in a friendly encounter involving the national soccer team and the Glasgow Girls from Scotland.”

Ms Jawara was one of more than 7,000 Gambians who have fled the small West African country so far this year, making it the largest contributor to illegal migration into Italy, relative to the size of its population.

An estimated, 240 migrants have drowned off the coast of Libya since 1 November including some believed to be West African, the U.N.'s migration agency said on Thursday.

Gambia has been stable since President Yahya Jammeh seized power in a coup in 1994. Although many of his political opponents have fled in recent years, citing repression, the majority of the current wave of migrants are thought to be fleeing poverty.

Gambia, which exports peanuts and rosewood, ranked 175 out of 188 countries in the 2015 U.N. Human Development Index.