A FORMER York Methodist Minister who survived both the Sierra Leone civil war and the Ebola epidemic has been killed in an horrific car crash.

The Reverend Francis Nabieu lived in Clifton Moor and served churches in Clifton Moor, New Earswick and Melbourne Terrace in Cemetery Road for five years until he departed last summer for a new appointment in Croydon.

He is reported to have died in an accident on the Bo-Kenema Highway last Tuesday during a return visit to his home country in Africa.

The Reverend Leslie Newton, Superintendent Minister for York Methodist Circuit, spoke yesterday of his 'profoundly deep sadness' at the news, and said there was a 'huge sense of loss and shock' amongst Methodists in York.

"He was just so full of life," he said. "Many, many people were enriched through having known him. He was able to inspire York Methodists to support the efforts to help children orphaned by Ebola."

He said Francis was able to draw on his own experiences to tell how money raised for Christian Aid was directly helping people back in his home country.

The Minister said prayers were said at services yesterday and an informal service would be held at New Earswick Methodist Church at 10am on Tuesday, giving Methodists from across the area an opportunity to remember Francis and pray for him.

In an email to York Methodists, Mr Newton said: "I know you will keep his family and all his friends in your prayers with thanksgiving, despite our sadness, for his faithful and fruitful life and ministry. May he rest in peace and rise in glory."

Mr Nabieu, the former head of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, told The Press last year of the devastating impact of Ebola on his family and friends, saying it had killed his brother-in-law, other relatives and several very close friends.

He said: "There are times when I am frightened to pick up the phone because I don't know what I am going to hear. It could be more bad news."

He said York Methodists had launched a fundraising appeal for the Children of Hope Foundation, which aimed to ensure orphaned children could go to school and candles had been lit every Sunday at churches in solidarity with people affected by Ebola.

In 2012, The Press reported how, when civil war erupted in Sierra Leone in 1991, others had fled but Mr Nabieu flew into the warzone and stood by his people. His own father died in a refugee camp in Guinea, and he was placed on a rebels’ arrest list.

When the war was over, he helped to set up a life-saving food security project which brought fresh hope to devastated communities and was helped by Christian Aid.