Founder Of BFMI And Eight Others Killed In Plane Crash In The Bahamas

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Founder Of BFMI And Eight Others Killed In Plane Crash In The Bahamas

November 10, 2014 - On Sunday a Learjet 35A (N17UF) had departed Nassau-Lynden Pindling International Airport in the Bahamas for Freeport-Grand Bahama International Airport with 7 passengers and a crew of two. At about 5 PM local time the jet crashed on approach killing all onboard.

Bahamian officials report the Learjet was on approach for runway 6 when it clipped a 368 foot crane located at a ship yard on the approach end Grand Bahama International Airport. Low visibility may have played a role, the aircraft was destroyed.

At the time of the crash there was a Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS) for that runway which indicated precision approach path indicator (PAPI) lights were out. PAPI is a visual aid, row of lights at the beginning of the runway that tells the pilot if he is to high, to low or on the right glide path to land.

Ministry of Transport and Aviation. said "The Department of Civil Aviation has been advised unofficially that the aircraft was destroyed and that there were no survivors."

The Learjet is registered to Diplomatic Aviation Ltd in the Bahamas. The flight was a charter flight for Bahamas Faith Ministries International (BFMI) for a gathering in Grand Bahama for the 2014 Global Leadership Forum.

Onboard the flight was the founder of BFMI, Minister DR. Myles Munroe, OBE, and his wife Ruth Munroe, Senior Vice-President Dr. Richard Pinder, Youth Pastors Lavard and Radel Parks and their son Johannan and one additional passenger. The pilots have been identified as Stanley Thurston and Farkhan Cooper.

Dr. Munroe was a Bahamian Evangelical Christian evangelist and ordained Pentecostal minister who founded and led the Bahamas Faith Ministries International and Myles Munroe International (MMI). He was chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the International Third World Leaders Association and president of the International Leadership Training Institute as well as the author of numerous books.

Wikipedia - In March 2014, Munroe was criticized publicly in a press statement by Bahamian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell for comments he had made about the government's positions regarding the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals in the LGBT community in the Bahamas. Munroe had stated that Mitchell's support of LGBT persons in the Bahamas does not “represent the majority of the convictions of the Bahamian people”.

Mitchell responded by claiming, "Once again Dr. Myles Munroe has returned to a theme he does not understand and obviously which he has no knowledge." Mitchell went on in the statement to reference what he regarded as Munroe's "...absolute stupidity and willful deceit is parading around in the pulpit disguised as theology." Mitchell's comments were in direct response to Munroe's claim that Mitchell's support of LGBT persons in the Bahamas does not “represent the majority of the convictions of the Bahamian people”.

In September 2014, Munroe again stirred controversy in the Bahamas when he made comments in a statement titled "Homosexuality - Phobia or Principle". In the statement, Munroe claimed people have "hijacked" and "raped" the civil rights movement with efforts to fight for the rights of those in the LGBT community. The statement from Munroe was in response to a gay pride event that took place the last weekend of August 2014.

Local gay rights and civil rights spokespersons stated they were shocked and alarmed by Munroe's statement. Joseph Gaskins, former lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, called his position on homosexuality and civil rights hypocritical in light of Munroe's then-recent visit with polygamist South African President Jacob Zuma.