wfn.org | ABCUSA: Missionaries Safe in Philippines Following Bombing

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

by Eleanor Lundy, American Baptist International Ministries

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 3/5/03)--No American
Baptist missionaries serving in the Philippines were injured in yesterday's
bombing attack at Davao International Airport in the Philippines, according
to the Rev. Benjamin Chan, American Baptist International Ministries' area
director for East Asia, India, Hong Kong and China.  Chan said his office
has been in contact with those missionaries, all of whom are based some
distance from Davao City. 

The powerful bomb, planted in an abandoned rucksack, exploded about 5:15
p.m. local time in a crowded passenger shelter near the airport's main
terminal, leaving 21 dead and about 170 others injured, according to The New
York Times.  Davao, the Philippines' second-largest city, is located in the
rebellion-torn Mindanao Islands region of the southern Philippines. 

Among the dead was William P. Hyde, a Southern Baptist missionary from Iowa,
who had lived and worked in the Philippines since 1978.  Three other
Americans were reported injured in the blast. The bombing occurred amidst
escalating terrorist attacks as the United States makes plans to deploy more
than 1,000 anti-terror troops in the Philippines. 

"Our prayers are with the families of the deceased and the injured, and we
send our condolences to the Southern Baptist Convention," said Chan.  "We
also are asking for prayer support for our partner convention, the
Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches, as well as for our missionaries
and for the churches in the Davao region." 

K/2003ABNS/03ABN34

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org