he death toll in what local authorities have described as "the worst road accident" in Papua New Guinea's Western Highlands has risen to 25.
Seventeen men, seven women and a toddler were among those killed when a bus they were travelling in ran off a cliff and plunged 50 metres into the bank of a river, 20 minutes drive from Mt Hagan in PNG's Western Highlands province.
33 passengers, all from a village in the district of Baiyer in Western Highlands, were on board the 25-seater PMV bus.
Director for medical services at Mt Hagen General Hospital, Dr Guapo Kiagi, told Radio Australia 23 of the victims died on impact and the driver survived the crash but later died on arrival at the hospital.
One other woman was treated for a ruptured spleen and died this morning.
Seven more people remain in a critical condition and one person has been treated and discharged.
Dr Kiagi says it looks like the driver was severely overworked and had had very little sleep in the days preceding the accident.
It's believed he fell asleep at the wheel.
Locals and relatives say they were heading to the Kagamuga airport in the capital, Mt Hagen, to pick up the casket of a villager who died in the PNG capital, Port Moresby.
PNG's local newspapers, the National and Post Courier, have carried horrific pictures of locals and police retrieving and lining up the remains to identify the bodies.
The National newspaper has reported the Western Highlands Provincial Police Commander, Martin Lakari as describing the deaths as "PNG's worst road accident involving a public motor vehicle".
Local ward councillor Kuri Rani told the National he was supposed to travel on the bus but decided not to at the last minute.
"They are my people from the Epika tribe... and it's a big loss to the rest of my tribesmen," he said.
"We were all travelling into town to pick up a casket and didn't know such a thing would happen."
Police are continuing their investigations into the possible cause.
Several years ago, 17 people died in a similar accident along the same stretch of the road.
Thursday 4 April 2013
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/article/16545524/death-toll-rises-in-png-bus-crash/
0 comments:
Post a Comment