Renowned Russian humanitarian and charity activist Elizaveta Glinka, widely known as Dr. Liza, is feared dead after boarding the plane bound for Syria that crashed on the morning of December 25, 2016 off the Sochi coast.

The 54-year-old head of the Fair Help foundation was supposed to travel to Latakia to deliver medical supplies to a hospital, according to the Human Rights Council.

Her foundation also said that Ms. Glinka was “taking humanitarian supplies for the Tishreen University hospital in Latakia,” while the Defense Ministry confirmed the passenger list included her name.

There was some confusion regarding Ms. Glinka’s fate after the plane stopped over in Sochi for refueling. Several news outlets reported that she failed to board the flight after a security check.

As time passed, however, her mobile phone remained hopelessly switched off.

Eventually, Elena Pogrebizhskaya, the author of a documentary film on Doctor Liza, wrote on her Facebook page: “Liza’s phone is out of coverage. She has not been in touch with anyone for 11 hours. This includes her family. Gleb [Ms. Glinka’s husband] says he wants to be alone... This is a nightmare.”

The demise of Dr. Liza came as yet another shockwave to the Russian public on top of the death of 64 members of the Alexandrov army choir who were traveling to Syria.

“We were hoping for a miracle until the very last moment. And she was a miracle herself, a heaven-sent message of virtue,” the head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov said.

“Dr. Liza was the darling of all hearts for one simple reason. For many years, almost every day, she provided palliative medical care, feeding the homeless, giving them shelter and clothes. She took the sick and the injured children from the Donbass region under a hail of bullets, so that they could get help in the best hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg. She organized a shelter for children with amputated limbs, where they could undergo rehabilitation after being treated in a hospital.

“To save the lives of others – this was her mission everywhere: in Russia, in the Donbass region, and in Syria,” Mr. Fedotov added.

Born into a military family, which also includes a famous dietitian, Ms. Glinka graduated from the Russian National Research Medical Institute in Moscow to become a pediatric anesthesiologist. In 1986, she and her husband moved to the U.S., where she studied palliative care and graduated from Dartmouth. In America, she became involved with the work of hospices. Ms. Glinka later participated in the work of the first hospice in Moscow, after which the family moved to Ukraine for two years. In 1999, she founded the first hospice in Kiev.

In 2007, Ms. Glinka founded the Fair Help foundation in Moscow, which provides financial support and medical care to cancer patients, underprivileged families, the homeless, and others in need.

Last year, Dr. Liza organized an evacuation of children with heart conditions who were in need of urgent medical help from the Donbass region to Russian hospitals. The parents and doctors said that due to the humanitarian crisis, it was impossible to treat them locally.

Earlier in December, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin gave out state awards for outstanding achievements in charity and human rights activities. Ms. Glinka was the recipient of one of the highest awards and at the time she said that she would soon travel to Syria.

“We never know whether we will come back alive because war is hell on Earth, and I know what I’m talking about. But we are confident that goodness, compassion, and mercy are stronger than any weapon,” Ms. Glinka said when receiving the award.

Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, said that Ms. Glinka’s death was a huge loss.

“She was a saint and had enough strength for everyone, ready to help both the homeless and the children,” Ms. Alexeyeva told TASS.

“It’s hard to speak about her, and this is a huge loss. People like Dr. Liza are born once in a thousand years,” the human rights activist added. According to Ms. Alekseeva, Ms. Glinka was carrying a large amount of humanitarian aid to Syria.

Former human rights envoy Vladimir Lukin said that he was shocked by the tragedy. “I am shocked. She was a wonderful person. She has done a lot of good things,” he said.

Those who never met Dr. Liza have also been deeply saddened by the tragic news.

“Eternal Memory # doktorLiza! Thank you for helping our children,” Aleksey Dyatlov wrote on Twitter. “A human with a capital H, and a woman of action! Will never forget! Everlasting memory!” Aleksey Chenskykh wrote. “Why is it that the best are the first to leave?” Nikita Kuznetsov asked.

People have been bringing flowers and candles to the office of the Fair Help foundation in Moscow.

“She was a miracle. She did things that most people thought were impossible to do. But that’s exactly what Elizaveta was all about. She worried about her colleagues to the point where she preferred to travel to hot spots herself,” Lana Zhurkina, Dr. Liza’s former colleague said.

A young mother in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, whose child Ms. Glinka helped when she suffered from a serious disease, shared her sorrow with the journalists.

“My daughter was diagnosed with congenital heart defect, and she had to be urgently operated on. We met Ms. Glinka in Donetsk. She sent us to St. Petersburg, where the child was successfully operated on right on the second day.” “This is a terrible tragedy; she helped so many children, so many adults, and provided hope and faith,” the woman said.

A Russian Defense Ministry medical facility is to be named after the renowned humanitarian activist, Deputy Minister of Defense Ruslan Tsalikov told journalists.

“The humanitarian cargo of the Fair Help foundation was sent by another aircraft. It is already at the Khmeimim airport, and of course we will finish Elizaveta Glinka’s job,” Mr. Tsalikov added.

Meanwhile the head of the Chechen republic Ramzan Kadyrov said that a children’s clinic in Grozny has been named after the humanitarian activist Ms. Glinka.

“Dr. Liza devoted herself to the most noble cause, saving the children,” Mr. Kadyrov wrote on Instagram. “She had a brilliant medical training and could have worked in some clinic, but she chose the hard path of helping those who could not get help from elsewhere.”