Two members of South Main Church of Christ in Weatherford, Texas, died Tuesday when their vehicle collided head-on with a truck on a rural highway in southern Zambia. Richard Gill and Jim Mynaugh, both 67, were killed instantly while traveling for mission work tied to clean-water projects Mynaugh had championed for more than a decade.
The crash happened at about 5:40 p.m. local time at Sky Layby, roughly 10 kilometers south of Zimba town, according to Lusaka Times. The collision occurred between a Toyota Fortuner, in which Gill and Mynaugh were riding as passengers, and a Hino Ranger truck traveling along the Great North Road in Zimba district. Both men died at the scene, the outlet reported.
As first reported by The Christian Chronicle, Gill and Mynaugh were longtime members of South Main Church of Christ, located in Weatherford, west of Fort Worth. According to Kibo Group, the two men were brothers-in-law who had traveled to Zambia together to continue work on wells and water access for rural communities.
Police Point to Improper Overtaking Maneuver
Zambian police attributed the crash to an improper overtaking maneuver, according to preliminary findings described by Lusaka Times. Investigators said the driver of the Hino Ranger attempted to overtake another vehicle while traveling uphill, colliding head-on with the Toyota Fortuner carrying Gill and Mynaugh. Michael Namafente, identified as the Fortuner's driver, and a passenger named Laston Muzandu were injured and taken to a hospital in Livingstone, Zambia, per the same account. The Hino Ranger's driver and four passengers were also injured and transported to the hospital in Livingstone.
The Christian Chronicle reported that other occupants of both vehicles were injured and taken to the hospital, while Lusaka Times specified that eight other people sustained injuries and were referred to Livingstone University Teaching Hospital. The two accounts were not fully reconciled on the exact injury count.
A Water-Access Mission Spanning Years and Continents
Mynaugh founded and led Divine Water, a Texas-based nonprofit that installs hand-pump wells and sponsors clean-water projects in impoverished communities, according to the Christian Chronicle. The organization partners with other Church of Christ-affiliated nonprofits, including Healing Hands International and Kibo Group, on projects stretching across multiple countries.
Kibo Group workers said Mynaugh helped bring clean water to thousands of people over more than 12 years of work, and that he advocated both for clean water access and for what they described as the opportunity to experience Christ's living water. The group said it had met with Mynaugh in Rome less than a week before the crash to discuss a shared commitment to community-led development, with Mynaugh himself noting, less than a week earlier, that he had been together with Kibo Group members in Rome.
In 2024, Mynaugh posted about a well drilled in a Ugandan village, where he said residents cheered and danced as water emerged from the ground. The Kibo Group helped coordinate that drilling effort. Reflecting on the moment, Mynaugh said that easy access to clean, safe drinking water simply changes lives, per the Christian Chronicle's account.
Momentum Behind the Mission Continues
Just months before the crash, the Rotary Club of Weatherford raised funds for two water wells in Zambia, and Divine Water teams had planned to begin work with six new villages in July, according to the Christian Chronicle. The nonprofit's reach had already extended well beyond Zambia: Divine Water sponsored well projects in five countries, including Costa Rica, Haiti, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and Uganda, working through partners such as Healing Hands International, Kibo Group and Water Underground, per Texas Co-op Power. A typical hand-pumped well the group installs serves between 800 and 1,200 people, and the organization provided clean-water access to roughly 10,000 people in 2023 alone, the magazine reported.
The scope of that work has drawn outside collaborators as well. Villanova University coordinated a seven-day engineering trip to Uganda with Kibo Group and Divine Water, during which nine students worked on a solar-powered well pump system and designed safer school latrines, according to the university.
Road Safety a Growing Concern in Zambia
The crash adds to a troubling pattern on Zambian roads. The country recorded 12,865 road traffic accidents nationwide between July and September 2026, resulting in 859 deaths and 2,144 serious injuries, according to Zambia Monitor. Fatal accidents climbed from 583 in the same period a year earlier to 747, while deaths rose from 753 to 859, the outlet reported, citing police data. Zambia Police spokesperson Chipo Kaitisha said preliminary analysis identified human error as a major contributing factor in road accidents nationally, including more than 3,000 cases involving excessive speed.
The Zambia Road Safety Trust has noted that road deaths and serious injuries are shaped by a mix of driver behavior and systemic factors, including speed, vehicle safety, road design, enforcement and emergency care. Unsafe overtaking, the kind preliminary police findings pointed to in the crash that killed Gill and Mynaugh, is among the contributing factors the trust commonly cites in Zambian crash data.
In Zambia, local leaders offered condolences following the crash. Obrain Masaka Muleya asked people to pray for the bereaved families and friends, and recognized the missionaries' role in helping poor people gain access to community water, according to the Christian Chronicle. The Christian Chronicle, whose president and CEO Erik Tryggestad authored the original report, noted the story was still developing as of publication, with further updates expected.
