Nine people, including a world-renowned faith leader with ties to two Tulsa universities, died in a plane crash while en route to a leadership forum in the Bahamas, officials said Sunday night.
Myles Munroe, a Bahamas native with degrees from Oral Roberts University and the University of Tulsa, boarded a Lear 36 executive jet with his wife Ruth and seven others in Nassau around 4 p.m. Sunday, according to Bahamian news reports. He was 60 years old.
The plane crashed while attempting to land in Freeport, located on Grand Bahama island, about an hour later, and everyone on board died, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation said in a statement.
An Oral Roberts University spokesman also confirmed Munroe died in the incident and said the school would release a statement late Sunday night.
The Bahamas Tribune reported the plane collided with a crane at a ship yard on Grand Bahama island, which caused it to explode on impact and crash into a nearby junkyard.
Grand Bahama is about 70 miles east of Florida.
Munroe was the president and founder of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship and Myles Munroe International, and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from ORU and Tulsa, respectively.
He and Ruth Munroe were co-pastors for the organization, which according to its website is a Christian growth and resource center, a charismatic teaching fellowship and international outreach center.
Munroe, a member of the ORU class of 1978, was the school’s “Distinguished Service to God” Alumnus of the year in 2004, according to ORU records.
Ministry officials released a statement on Myles Munroe’s Facebook page Sunday night indicating the leadership forum, scheduled to begin Monday and end Wednesday, will continue in Freeport as planned.
“This is what Dr. Munroe would have wanted. Please keep his family and the ministry in prayers,” the statement read.
Bahamian officials said a full investigation into the crash will begin Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
