Baby among group lost at sea

By DOROTHY MARK
EIGHT people, including a five-month-old baby and a six year-old girl, are still missing between Karkar and Bagbag islands in Madang after rough seas capsized the dinghy they were travelling in.
The eight, five of whom werechildren, were part of a group of 11 who left Bagbag Island for Karkar Island on Friday when they encountered rough seas; three survivors managed to swim to shore.
One of the survivors, Saul Yau, 18, from Sara village on Bagabag Island, said he was operating the boat when they encountered rough seas off Karkar where he allowed a more
experienced operator to steer the boat.
Yau said the boat capsized after being bombarded by several large waves.
“I had no choice but to start swimming for the shore,” he said.
“There were 11 of us but only three of us got to the beach.”
Search party leader Bul Malu said the three survivors swam about 2km to the shore to Mumuk point at Kubam village, Karkar and walked to Katom village and alerted villagers.Malu said dinghies from the area abandoned their Friday business to take part in the search.
The search was conducted as far as Kulili last Friday and the same happend on Saturday but they still could not locate any of the missing persons.
Malu said the eight missing were a five-month-old infant, a six year-old girl, a mother, a 12-year-old boy, an intending candidate for ward one in Bagabag, a village recorder, a high school student from Anul High School on Karkar and a primary school student from Abisan Primary.
Sumkar MP Chris Nangoi assisted with the search.
Nangoi urged small boat operators from Karkar and Bagabag to take precaution when travelling by sea.
He said people in the province needed to exercise caution when travelling by boat, especially during bad weather.