A 20-year-old missionary with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Anchorage, Alaska, was killed in a bus crash Friday, a spokesperson for the faith said Saturday.
Isaak Orion Card was riding the bus with three other missionaries in a rural area in Brazil, near the city of Tibagi, when the bus was hit by a semitruck, church spokesperson Sam Penrod said in a news release.
The other missionaries weren’t seriously hurt, the release said, and are being taken care of by area Latter-day Saints.
Card was serving in the Brazil Curitiba Mission, the release stated, and he had been a full-time missionary since October.
“We send our love to Elder Card’s family and friends and the missionaries and members in the Brazil Curitiba Mission,” the church said. “We pray that each will find peace and comfort as they mourn this faithful missionary and reflect on his Christlike service.”
This is the fourth publicly reported death of a full-time Latter-day Saint missionary this year.
The first was a 26-year-old missionary from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who died March 10 in the hospital “a short time after he began feeling ill.” He had been serving in the Mbuji-Mayi Mission in his home country.
The second was a 20-year-old missionary from Guatemala, who died April 11 while serving in the Honduras San Pedro Sula West Mission. She fell ill and was admitted to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with leukemia. “Doctors began emergency treatment,” the Utah-based church said, “but she suffered complications.”
The third was a 19-year-old missionary from Canada, who was serving in the Utah Layton Mission when he suffered a traumatic brain injury and died in a Salt Lake City hospital May 8.
