Boat Sinks in Africa, Calvary Chapel Team Treads Water for 16 Hours Before Rescue

Photos courtesy of Brian Dupont

Following the sinking of their boat, Lori Ruacho, part of a mission team to Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo, floats after spending all night in the dark on Lake Tanganyika. The group of 11—eight from Calvary Chapel High Desert in Hesperia, CA—lost almost all their supplies to the lake. At first, team spirit was high; but as night descended, fatigue and hypothermia took their toll.

Pastor Brian DuPont

It wasn’t long after the mission team heading to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) realized their boat was taking on water that the vessel capsized, leaving them stranded in Lake Tanganyika. The water swallowed most of their precious cargo—luggage, supplies, money, and more than 500 Bibles for beleaguered believers awaiting them in the DRC. Months of preparation for the trip to aid Calvary Chapel missions work there now seemed lost.

As the June evening turned to darkness, they floated, hoping to soon be rescued.

The team of eight from Calvary Chapel High Desert, CA, and three African believers would have to wait longer than expected for that rescue.  Alternately floating and swimming approximately three miles from the shore of Tanzania, they endured exhaustion, delirium, severe leg cramps, hypothermia, pain, and dehydration. Yet they called out to the Lord, often offering praise and worship to Him as they waited.

Attempts to stay together weren’t successful as currents separated them. The team leader, CC High Desert Missions Pastor Brian DuPont, urged seven of them to try to reach shore as he stayed behind to help his African friends who couldn’t swim. Eventually, he found himself alone in the dark.  

Sixteen grueling hours later, all were rescued and treated at a local hospital for hypothermia—thankful to tell stories of their happy ending.

Looking back, Brian reflected, “God’s plan wasn’t thwarted because the devil sank the boat. His plan from the beginning was to allow our boat to be sunk for His purpose. God does these radical things sometimes that seem to interrupt our plan, but His sovereignty—His plan—is never interrupted. Never.”

Watch the video below to learn more of the riveting testimony of God’s faithfulness and providential provision as the California team members share during a two-hour July 20 special service. Look for a full story in the next print issue of Calvary Chapel Magazine in September.

Team leader Brian DuPont stayed behind with three of his African partners, two of whom could not swim, after urging the rest of the California team to get to shore sooner. The seven were rescued by a tourist boat about an hour before Brian was picked up by a fishing boat (white sail in the background). In this photo, Amaha, the motorized craft sent by the Tanzanian Navy to pick up Brian and the men from that fishing boat, brings them to shore.

This map from Google Earth shows Lake Tanganyika and the estimated site of the boat sinking, three miles from the Tanzania coast. Further north on the left is Calvary Chapel of Baraka, the intended destination.

After their rescue, the exhausted CC High Desert team starts their return trip home—a 22-hour bus ride across Tanzania.

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