4 still missing, incident probed

THE four people who went missing on their way in a dinghy from Wewak to Manus last month have yet to be located or found, commander Supt Albert Beli says.
“The four had loaded 18 20kg betel nut bags and 600 litres of fuel on to the dinghy on Sept 16 and were travelling with two boat operators when they went missing,” he said.
“It was 5am when they left Wewak (Moem Point) for Manus which should take them about 24 hours
“Phone calls were made by the owner of the boat in Wewak on the estimated time of arrival in Manus but there was no response.
“Weather conditions were also bad.
“On Sept 21, the boat operator, Mace Ruave, was found adrift on a dinghy by Indonesian fishermen on a pump boat in Indonesian waters and was taken to Aragapura in Jayapura where he was handed to the Indonesian government authorities,” he added.
Supt Beli said the Indonesian authorities brought Ruave by car through the PNG-Indonesia border to Vanimo and handed him over to the police where he was taken to Wewak and detained in Wewak Police Station.
He said the boat Ruave operated was with the Indonesian government authorities.
“Prior to the Indonesians finding him, a two-day aerial search conducted by the PNG Defence Force using helicopter covered all of Bismarck Sea, the islands and coastlines of Wewak and extended to Aitape and Vanimo, but there was no sighting of the missing boat and the passengers,” Supt Beli said.
“Ruave’s assistant operator, Johnny Kombli, was sometimes seen in Wewak, but has not showed up.
“This raises the doubt of seeing him in Wewak, while his friend was found drifting in the high seas and the rest of the passengers are still missing.”
Supt Beli said police were still investigating the cause of the missing persons.