By ELIZABETH VUVU
A SENIOR female employee at the New Britain Palm Oil (NBOIL) in West New Britain was burnt to death at home last Wednesday afternoon.
New Guinea Islands divisional police commander, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Francis Tokura said the incident occurred between 2 and 3pm and the cause of the fire had still not been established.
He said qualified fire investigators from Port Moresby were flown into the province last Thursday to look into the exact exact cause of the fire.
The35-year-old woman from Central province was employed with the NBOIL as an accountant.
On Wednesday, she had visited the company’s health clinic, reporting she was sick and later returned home to rest.
ACP Tokura said between 2 and 3pm, the house girl, while cleaning up, noticed smoke coming out of her employer’s room.
The house girl tried her best to open the locked door but the fire spread quickly until it gutted the whole house.
Attempts to get help from neighbours were unsuccessful as everyone was at work and nobody was around to help.
The house girl received serious burns in her body and was admitted to the Kimbe General Hospital.
Mr Tokura said the woman’s body was at the Kimbe morgue. Police and a coroner’s inquest was underway.
Meanwhile, the situation is still tense after the stabbing of two Talasea men who were returning from a shop near the settlement, by settlers from Settlement 10.
Mr Tokura said he had issued instructions to the local police to closely monitor the situation.
The two men are in critical condition at the Kimbe hospital.
Tokura had also ordered an investigation into two police reservists involved in the killing of a Malaysian working for a logging company in the Kandrian-Gloucester area.
The victim was allegedly shot dead at point blank by the two reserve police officers who were allegedly drunk and attached to another logging company operating in the same area.
The Malaysian was allegedly shot after he refused to give food and fuel to the two reserved policemen.