A Southern Baptist missionary pilot came to the rescue of 16 Christian aid workers who had fled rioting in a northern Kenya town near the Ethiopia-Somalia border Dec. 11.
The pilot was available for the mission only because the flight planned for that day had been canceled. Violent demonstrations broke out in Mandera, Kenya, after authorities arrested an outspoken Muslim religious leader allegedly connected with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda movement.
Local youth raided a Catholic church and an agricultural training center. They set buildings and vehicles ablaze and looted property worth thousands of dollars in an effort to get the Muslim leader released.
Rioters later encircled the aid workers’ compound, chanting, throwing rocks and shooting rifles into the air.
An International Mission Board missionary pilot heard the distress call during his lunch bread and scrambled his staff into action.
The pilot works in conjunction with African Inland Mission to serve Christian workers in East Africa.
The missionary pilot landed his plane at a nearby Kenyan military base to miss the tumult in town. Sixteen people crammed into the 13- passenger plane and were in the air within minutes, before any shots could be fired at the plane. (BP)
Share with others: