Eleven students and missionaries die in Tanzania crash

Youth with a Mission, a global evangelism ministry, is mourning 11 of its students and staff who died in a bus crash on Saturday in Arusha, Tanzania. Julie McLaughlin is a media liaison for YWAM Kona, YWAM’s base in Hawaii. She told WORLD that the students were returning to Arusha from a field trip for the school’s Executive Masters in Global Pioneering Leadership program, a program for students of college age or older. A large truck hit one of the two minibusses carrying the group back from training. “It’s kind of a miracle that anyone survived,” she said.

Who was killed or injured in the crash? In addition to the 11 people who died, McLaughlin said seven others were in the hospital as of Monday evening. Of those hospitalized, two were in critical condition. YWAM has not fully identified the deceased and injured victims, citing security concerns. It hasn’t said how many of the deceased were on staff as opposed to students. People of several nationalities, including at least one American, were killed, McLaughlin said. The bus driver, who was not part of the YWAM group, was also killed, as were other people in additional vehicles involved in the crash. The total number of fatalities resulting from the crash has not been reported. According to a YWAM statement, the ministry’s other minibus made it to Arusha safely.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the 75th anniversary of a mission aviation organization.