A mission organization is mourning the loss of one of their pilots following a plane crash in Southeast Asia. 

The Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) says in a release that pilot Joyce Lin departed from the Sentani, Papua, Indonesia airport early in the morning of May 12, piloting a MAF Kodiak aircraft.

Lin was transporting medical supplies, including rapid COVID-19 test kits to a medical clinic in the village of Mamit in the Papua highlands.

The mission organization says that shortly after takeoff, "she reported an emergency and the aircraft descended into Lake Sentani. Joyce was the only person on the airplane."

Indonesian Search and Rescue divers were able to locate the wreckage and sadly confirmed Lin did not survive.

MAF says that they would appreciate "prayers for her family in this time of sudden loss are appreciated, as well as prayers for the MAF Papua team that worked by her side." Lin is survived by her parents and two sisters. She had grown up in the USA, but her family also spent time involved in causes for Southeast Asia.

"Joyce loved working for MAF in Indonesia, where she served as a pilot and field IT support specialist. Though she was there just two years—one in Central Java for language school and another in Sentani—her impact was significant. Joyce repeatedly shared how joy-filled she was in the weeks before she went to join the Lord," MAF says.

"The final sentence of Joyce’s MAF biography reads, 'While Joyce will always be excited to fly planes and work on computers, she is most excited to share the love of Jesus Christ by helping to transform other people’s deep discouragement and mourning into dancing and joy.'"

"Joyce was a light reflecting Jesus, and she will be deeply missed."

Hundreds of people have sent condolences on the MAF's social media pages. One person who lives in the region Lin served says, "This is a very shocking and heartbreaking news for us, the local people she served. I did not know her in person, but I am a Papuan so I know what a missionary has willing to sacrifice to be able to serve the Lord here.
Thank you won't be enough, Joyce Lin."

Another commenter, who knows the family, says, "Joyce was an amazing person: very quiet, cheerful, dedicated. She was one of three daughters. An amazing family, who contributed so much to the US, but were also very active in Taiwan’s transition to democracy from the very early days in the 1980s."

The MAF staff in Papua and Jakarta are working with authorities on the investigation of the accident.