Body of missing Lae student found

By SAMPSON BONAI
THE body of a man believed to be a student who went missing since last Friday was found washed ashore about 300m away from the Wagang village in Lae last night.
Acting Morobe disaster coordinator Charlie Masenge and his search and rescue officers headed by Tau Jeruthe went to Wagang village beachfront at the city boundary and retrieved the partly decomposed body and transported it in a body bag to the Angau Memorial General Hospital morgue last night.
“The body was believed to be that of a student at St Joseph Technical College who went missing at 8 Mile last Friday … the matter was reported to us last Saturday.
“I led a search and rescue team along the Bukawa coastline but failed to locate the body and so we returned to the city on Saturday afternoon,” Mr Jeruthe said.
“The body was drifting near the shoreline and when the current changed, it floated towards the beach front and was washed ashore.
The villagers, who saw the body, quickly alerted the disaster officers and the police homicide squad.
Mr Jeruthe said three bodies had been recovered within seven days.
The first two bodies were recovered last week, with one found floating in front of the Lae Yacht Club and the other being washed ashore at the gravel pit near the mouth of Bumbu River last Friday.