American missionary pilot, Joyce Lin, has been killed in a plane crash while transporting COVID-19 supplies, Christian Post has reported.
Lin, 40, died on May 12 to after her plane crashed shortly after it took off to deliver COVID-19 supplies to remote villages in Indonesia.
Lin, according to the report, worked for Idaho-based Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) whose pilots use Cessina and Kodiak aircraft to transport items to remote areas in the world to share “Christ’s Love beyond where the road ends.”
Items transported by MAF include medicine, doctors, disaster relief, evangelists, Bible translators, food supplies and agriculture.
The Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) family is deeply saddened by the loss of their colleague and friend,” a statement from MAF said.
“Joyce was responding to the needs of the village of Mamit in the Papua highlands and cargo on the plane included COVID-19 rapid test kits for the local clinic.
“Within minutes of take-off, she reported an emergency and the aircraft descended into Lake Sentani. Joyce was the only person on the airplane.
Police spokesperson in Papua, Ahmad Musthofa Kamal, said Lin sent a distress call and requested to return to the airport, but the control tower lost contact with her as a result of which she crashed into the lake.
Her body was found in the lake about two hours later at a depth of approximately 13 metres.
“She has dedicated her life to transporting humanitarian supplies and missionaries to hard-to-reach areas in Papua,” Kamal said.
Christian Post said Lin was raised in Colorado and Maryland and started work with MAF in 2018.
She graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees. She also received a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theology Seminary where she first learned about mission aviation.
MAF said, “Joyce loved working for MAF in Indonesia, where she served as a pilot and field IT support specialist. Though she was there just two years – one in Central Java for language school and another in Sentani – her impact was significant. Joyce repeatedly shared how joy-filled she was in the weeks before she went to join the Lord.”
Lin is survived by her parents and two sisters.