Ottio’s burial tomorrow

THE body of PNG Kumuls star Kato Ottio will be buried tomorrow at the Tatana village cemetery, according to the PNG Rugby Football League.
After a funeral service on Friday, the casket was taken back to the funeral home in Erima and is scheduled to be taken to Tatana today.
A funeral service will be held tomorrow at the Tatana United Church before the burial.
Making a surprise appearance on Friday after the funeral service at the Sir John Guise Stadium was late Ottio’s Kumul teammate and centre Nene Macdonald.
Macdonald arrived in the country on Friday devastated about the news, telling PNGRFL that he came home to farewell his beloved teammate and friend.
Macdonald said he would travel back to Australia after the burial tomorrow.
Kato’s elder brother Ahulo said the body would be escorted in a motorcade from the funeral home at Erima to Kila Kila and Hanuabada and then to Tatana village.
He said the community in Tatana had allocated a burial site behind the school and the church.
“The grave is ready for his burial at the new location as somebody special in the village,” Ahulo said.
“This is away from the village cemetery. We are grateful for that decision by the community leaders in Tatana.”
In the meantime, information on the post-mortem to determine the cause of death is being withheld and will be released to the family and public in the coming days.
PNGRFL said the information would come once the coroner had finalised all necessary details.
While the body of the late Ottio is planned to be laid to rest, Widnes Vikings, the English Super League club he was scheduled to play with this year has raised over 10,000 Euros (K36,000 plus) to help his loved ones.
The Vikings also honoured Ottio in their trial match against Whitehaven at Halton Stadium at the weekend with all of the players wearing number 18 jerseys with Ottio’s name written on them.
The Vikings beat Whitehaven 62-0.