Pastor grieves the loss of friends killed in Cuban plane crash

A pastor in P.E.I. said he is grieving after five of his friends were killed in a plane crash in Cuba.

The crash, the worst aviation disaster in the country in three decades, happened late last week, killing 100 people. 

Eddie Rossiter is a pastor at Summerside Church of the Nazarene. He had travelled to Cuba to for the past two years to work with pastors in Holguin Province.  

There, he became friends with several other pastors. He was particularly close with Ronnie Pupo Pupo and his wife Yurisel Miranda, both of whom died in the crash.

"He and his wife were just fun and open people," he said. "That was the kind of guy he was. Just happy and just a loving guy, who loved Jesus and loved serving the people."

They, along with 18 others, were part of a group that had been on a retreat for ministers and their wives and was returning from Havana at the time of the crash. 

'You get pretty close'

Rossiter said he is still processing what happened to his friends.

"Just overwhelming shock and grief," he said. "At the same time, there is a hope and joy of where they are today, in heaven, with Jesus."

Rossiter said he will return to Cuba in February to work with the new leaders of the churches.

"It'll be different, the leaders will be different," he said. "There will be a level of absence we will feel."

"These people that you make connections with … you get pretty close," said Rossiter. "It's a real empty spot in your heart."