Canadian couple dies in air crash

A Canadian missionary couple were among 169 passengers who died when a Kenya Airways flight crashed into the sea minutes after takeoff from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Bob Chapman, 45, and his wife, Ruth, 52, were living in Nairobi at the time, working for Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Mr. Chapman once taught at Trinity Western University in B.C. and his daughter is a student there.

Erin, 19, is the sole remaining child as the Chapmans’ two young sons both died of malaria in 1990 after returning to Canada from Cameroon.

Also killed in the crash were Rev. Gaius M. Musa, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Nigeria and Rev. Stephen Niyang, United Bible Societies media consultant for Africa.