Four cheat death by swapping air tickets

By ANGELINE KARIUS
POLICE say four passengers on the ill-fated aircraft which crashed in Madang were not on the original list because they had swapped tickets with other­s.
The four were Bernard James (who travelled instead of Akau Petrus), Divu Langa (who tra­velled instead of Bibi Ronald),  Michael Amphry (who travelled in place of Ote Samson) and Ase Bill (who travelled in place of Saiyong Anki).
Police said Bill and Amphry were employees of Bismarck Enterprises Ltd, a logging company based in West New Bri­tain.
The disaster victim identification process is expected to wind up this week, according to the police Crime Investigations Department which gave the media on Tuesday the final investigation report.
The report stated that the only passenger whose body remained intact and positively identified was Sidi Abore.
The four who survived the crash are Capt Bill Spencer, 46, of Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, First Officer Ian Wagstape, 40, from Hobart, Tasmania Australia, cabin crew Kapi Era, 29, Marshall Lagoon, Central, and Chin Kui Fah from Sabah, Malaysia.
Reports also affirmed that during the disaster victim identification process, all 28 bodies were examined and samples collected from biological relatives for DNA tests.
These were conducted in Australia with assistance from the Australia Forensic Police and PNG counterparts.
Samples from the biological relatives of the following deceased passengers are yet to be collected: Bako Lucas, Doma Saron (contact established),  Gagi Ian (contact established), Kanaiu Benedict, Michael Amphry, Ase Bill (contact established), Philip Barnabas, Sanglela Robert (contact established) and Save Mark.
 Police are urging relatives to come forward as soon as possible.
Twenty initial reports of deaths to the coroner have been filed at the Madang district court.
These reports are for those deceased passengers whose relatives had turned up at the
Modilon Hospital to give necessary information about their relatives to the police and medical staff.  
All the bodies will remain at the hospital until DNA results are made available.
CID officer-in-charge Steven Yalamu said: “This may take some time as the tests will be done in Australia and results will be sent back and relatives will be informed accordingly.
“We are still calling on the relatives of the deceased yet to give their ante-mortem specimens to report to us as soon as possible to speed up the process. 
“When relatives don’t turn up, then it is going to be impossible for police to identify the bodies and the bodies will remain in the morgue for a longer period of time.
“The police investigation team is also working on the file for the coroner. As soon as the file is completed, it will be forwarded to the coroner for the purposes of coronial enquiry into the deaths.”
It is understood that two separate investigations were conducted. One was led by Capt David Inau from the Accident Investigation Commission and the other by Yalamu.
The purpose of the investigation conducted by the AIC to
establish the cause of the accident.