A Tari woman seeking swap places medical assistance died while being transported along the old Margarima-Kandep road at about 2:30am last Saturday to seek further medical help.
A local Hela chief Timothy Hayara who also travelled the road into Mt Hagen reported this to The National yesterday.
Mr Hayara said the woman, suffering from malaria, was on her way to Mendi to seek medical assistance as there were no drugs at Tari hospital and she could not be transported through Nipa because of the roadblocks.
Mr Hayara identified the deceased as Kipili Mai from Paijaka village outside Tari.
Mr Hayara said fellow passengers assisted by sending the body back to Tari on another passing vehicle.
He said the death was only one case of the suffering faced by the Hela people due to the road block at Nipa, which is preventing supplies and vehicles from getting into Tari and other Hela districts.
He said the Hela people were now forced to travel the poor Kandep road to get into Mt Hagen and Mendi to seek medical assistance or business.
The death toll of the malaria pandemic has now risen to four following the death of the woman.