The Government of the Bahamas says all 9 people on board were killed when a plane crashed off Grand Bahama today.
A statement from the Bahamas Information Services says that the Lear 36 Executive Jet had departed from Nassau. It said the plane crashed about 5 p.m. local time Sunday while attempting to land in Freeport. The leader of Bahamas Faith Ministries, Dr Myles Munroe, and his wife Ruth were killed in the plane crash, according to Bahamian news website Tribune242. Reports say that his daughter also perished in the crash.
The plane reportedly struck a crane at the Grand Bahama Ship Yard, exploding on impact and crashing into the ground near a junkyard area. The Department of Civil Aviation reported that the plane was a Lear 36 executive jet which departed the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) for the Grand Bahama International Airport.
Munroe had been scheduled to visit Guyana earlier this year but had to cancel at the last minute. In July this year, Munroe had expressed disappointment that his scheduled trip to Guyana for the National Men’s Rally was cancelled. A press release from the National Family Commission (NFC) which had organized the trip had quoted Munroe as saying “I have never before cancelled a booked trip over the past 30 years.”
The NFC release said that the cancellation was as a result of “miscommunication between the flight operations teams.”
Chairman of the NFC Dr. Kwame Gilbert, said in the press release that planning continued for the intervention and that a date would be announced shortly. The release had said that the NFC was coordinating Munroe’s visit with funding being provided by a broad-based coalition of supporters.
Dr. Gilbert had also said that, “I anticipate that, with the additional time available, our coalition will grow rapidly and the National Men’s Rally 2014 would be bigger than the almost 10,000 men who attended the 2010 rally. Given the crisis facing our families in Guyana, as demonstrated in an unprecedented spike in domestic and sexual violence, Dr. Munroe’s intervention remains both timely and necessary.”
In 2009, then President Bharrat Jagdeo and Munroe engaged in lengthy discussions during a courtesy call at State House and an agreement was made for the religious leader to return to speak to the nation about issues concerning men.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Munroe was accompanied by his wife Ruth and son Myles Jr. Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God Church Reverend John Smith and his wife also attended the meeting.
Munroe had just concluded a fellowship visit to Christian and government leaders in Guyana. He was also one of the guest speakers at the Central Assembly of God Church which had commemorated the 40th anniversary of the service of Pastor Smith.
Munroe had visited Guyana on more than one occasion. He told GINA then that “Guyana is continuing to rise.” He said he has seen a number of changes since his last visit and “The transformation I’ve seen since then is one of the most amazing changes I have seen in any country before and that means that the people are working together, the leadership is working and the government is obviously making decisions that are helping in the infrastructural development of the country.”
According to GINA the president and Munroe also discussed possible collaborations between Guyana and The Bahamas and NGOs. “We also talked about some of the issues relevant to environmental concerns with regards to carbon emissions and the role Guyana can play in the future of the world… I believe that Guyana is one of the wealthiest countries in the world because of the forests,” Munroe said.
According to the Bahamasweekly.com Dr. Munroe was an internationally renowned bestselling author, lecturer, teacher, life coach, government consultant, and leadership mentor. He had travelled around the world training leaders in business, government, education, sports, media, and religion.
This multi-gifted motivational speaker served as a business consultant to governments, Fortune 500 companies and corporations, addressing critical issues that affect every aspect of human, professional, leadership, social, and spiritual development.
Dr. Munroe represented his country as the youngest recipient of the Queen’s Birthday Honors of the Order of The British Empire (OBE) Award 1998 bestowed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England, for his spiritual and social contributions to the national development of the Bahamas. He had also been honoured by the government of the Bahamas with the Silver Jubilee Award (SJA) for providing twenty-five years of outstanding service to the Bahamas in the category of spiritual, social and religious development.
Pas. Myles was the senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship, where his wife, Ruth Ann, serves as co-senior pastor. He was a proud parent of Charisa and Chairo (Myles Jr.).