Family homeless after tree falls on house

By ELIAS LARI
HEAVY rain and a strong winds have left a Mt Hagen family homeless after a large tree destroyed their home at around 5pm on Tuesday.
The incident happened at the Holy Trinity Teachers College just outside the city.
Owen Opa from Pangia in Southern Highlands, a senior language lecturer at the Holy Trinity Teachers College, said he was surprised that his wife and five children escaped injuries when the tree fell on the roof of their house.
Opa and his two other children were away at the time of the incident.
Fortunately, only one of his teenage sons was slightly injured on his left elbow by a falling piece of timber while everyone else escaped unhurt.
“I thank God for saving my family,” Opa said.
“The tree was big, it could have killed one of the children but they escaped to the kitchen and were saved,” he said.
Opa said the house was built during the 1960s and one of the pioneer buildings of the Catholic Church-run teachers college.
College principal Michael Miamel said repairing the house would cost up to K40,000 and the college could not afford that immediately because of financial difficulties.