Cop’s stray bullet kills child, halts LNG early works

A SHOOTING incident between police and local youths in Mendi, Southern Highlands, has claimed the life of an innocent elementary school pupil.
The eight-year-old was shot dead yesterday morning.
Traffic flow into the lucrative oil and gas fields in the province had been thrown into chaos.
Angry Yaken villagers, just outside Mendi town, yesterday set up barricades and blocked the Mendi-Tari section of the Highlands Highway.
Provincial police commander Supt Teddy Tei confirmed the shooting and the roadblocks last night.
Semi-trailers ferrying heavy machinery and equipment from Mt Hagen and Lae into the province for early works including engineering, procurement and construction phase of the multi-billion-kina PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project cannot get to the sites at Kutubu, Moro and Hides in Tari.
Traffic into the resource-rich Hela region had also stopped.
Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, Imbonggu MP Francis Awesa, provincial administrator William Powi and Tei met with leaders from Yaken village yesterday afternoon.
They appeealed to the village elders to ask their youths to remove the roadblock.
Tei said an “unidentified police unit” providing security and escort for ExxonMobil and the LNG project ran into a group of youths, allegedly drunk, on the highway at Yaken village.
The policemen asked the “intoxicated” youths to get off the road but, instead, the youths turned on the policemen, stoning them.
Police fired warning shots to disperse the youths and a stray bullet hit an eight-year-old boy who was on his way to school yesterday morning.
Early last December at Yaken village, a man was allegedly shot by a police unit returning from the LNG licenced-based benefits sharing agreement (LBBSA) forums.
Reports said the man was hospitalised but was now permanently injured. He was never compensated.
“I condemn such unwarranted use of firearm by police, Tei said.
“I will ensure normal police investigations are carried out so that the rogue cop who discharged the firearm, which claimed the life of an innocent student, will be dealt with by the law,” he added.
In Tari yesterday, more than 20 semi-trailers owned by Mapai Transport that had delivered equipment and machinery at the LNG project sites could not return to Mt Hagen and Lae.
An expatriate with Clough Curtain Joint Venture (CCJV), engaged for the LNG early works, said apart from the roadblocks, the ever-deteriorating condition of the Highlands Highway, especially in Chimbu, is hindering the fast and effective delivery and supply of machinery and equipment for the LNG early works.