The goalkeeper of Gambia's female national football team died in an attempt to cross the Mediterranean last month, her former coach has said. 

Fatim Jawara, 19, was among the victims when a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized just off the Libyan coast. She had made her national team debut at just 18 years of age. 

"We lost her too soon," said her coach Chorro Mbenga, "but her great performances will not be forgotten."

The president of Gambia's Football Association said Jawara's death was "a great loss to the national team and to the Gambian nation." 

According to Italian media, Jawara left Gambia in September, crossing the Sahara desert to reach Libya. From there, she boarded the fateful boat that would end up being her coffin. 

Gambia is a small central African nation of 1.8 million people. An estimated 60 per cent of Gambians live in poverty, with approximately one in three surviving on less than $1.25 a day, according to the UN.

Some 4,220 people have died in an attempt to cross the Mediterranean this year, according to International Organization for Migration figures. There were 3,777 migrant deaths at sea in all of 2015.

The most recent tragedy was reported earlier today, when 239 people died in two shipwrecks off Libya.