LDS missionary is killed in the South Pacific, becomes the fifth to die this year

A senior Latter-day Saint missionary from Utah has been killed in a head-on collision on an island in the South Pacific.

Marina Carver of Riverton died Saturday from injuries she suffered the day before when a vehicle “reportedly veered” into the car she and her husband, Richard Carver, were in on the island of Santo in Vanuatu, Sam Penrod, a spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Sunday in a news release.

The couple were taken to an area hospital and later transferred to a hospital in the capital of Port Vila, where Marina Carver died from internal injuries, Penrod said. Her husband underwent additional medical evaluation but was expected to recover.

The Carvers had been serving their volunteer stints in the Vanuatu Port Vila Mission since October.

“We send our deepest condolences to Elder Carver, their children and extended family members,” Penrod added. “We pray they will be comforted with their understanding of Sister Carver’s faith in Heavenly Father’s plan for families to be together forever.”

Vanuatu is home to more than 11,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 40 congregations, the faith’s website states. In October 2020, church President Russell Nelson announced the island nation’s first Latter-day Saint temple to be built in Port Vila. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held in April.

The senior missionary’s death was the fifth 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. He 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. She 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. He died May 8 in a Salt Lake City hospital from a traumatic head injury when he fell as he tried to jump an electric scooter as it approached him in the roadway. He had been serving in the Utah Layton Mission.

A fourth missionary, a 20-year-old from Alaska serving in the Brazil Curitiba Mission, was killed May 26, when a semitruck slammed into a bus in a rural area of the South American country. Three other missionaries on the bus were not seriously hurt in the collision.