4 teens dead

FOUR teenagers are dead while 10 others escaped serious injury after their utility was hit by a 15-seater PMV bus at Kwikila, along the Magi Highway, outside Port Moresby on Saturday afternoon.
The accident occurred when the utility, carrying 14 passengers, was returning to Gunugau village after a semi-final rugby league match at Kwikila.
Detective Constable Segela Kubili, who witnessed the accident, said that as the utility was turning a sharp corner, the PMV bus swerved into its lane and crashed into the driver’s side, resulting in the deaths of the two boys and two girls, all in their late teens.
He said three of the passengers died on impact while the fourth died on the way to hospital.
Det Const Kubili said the PMV bus driver and his female passenger appeared to be under the influence of alcohol because they narrowly missed colliding with a couple of vehicles and bystanders along the highway, before crashing into the utility.
Another PMV driver Lexie Buga, who was also at the scene of the accident, said the driver of the PMV was chased into the bushes by bystanders but he managed to escape.
It is understood the driver’s female companion is in police custody.
Det Const Kubili said the driver of the utility was also taken to the Kwikila police station for questioning.
Mr Buga said this was the second serious accident for Gunugau village during Independence week celebrations, after six people were killed in a car accident in 2006.
One of the injured passengers, a female, is at the Port Moresby General Hospital while a male has been admitted to Paradise Private Hospital.
Details on their condition could not be ascertained.
The four bodies are at the Port Moresby General Hospital morgue.
Neither NCD nor Central province police were available for comment.