Public funeral for crash victims

By ELIAS LARI
THE relatives of 21 people killed in a road accident in Mt Hagen last Friday will stage a public funeral at the Pope John Paul Oval tomorrow.
Spokesman Anton Tulg, from Nebilyer, said the public had been invited to attend the funeral service to farewell the victims of the road tragedy, one of the worst in the province’s history.
He said Catholic Church Archbishop of the Mt Hagen diocese Bishop Douglas Young would conduct the funeral service and bless the bodies before they were taken for burial.
Tulg said he wanted the people of Western Highlands to attend the funeral service and pay their respects for the dead along with the grieving family and friends.
“As the relatives, we have come together to take the bodies from the morgue and stage the funeral before taking them home,” he said.
Tulg said many family members were still in shock over what had happened and this would be the only time to come together to support each other before the burials.
He appealed to Western Highlanders in the province and those who used the roads to put safety first and drive responsibly and follow road and traffic rules.
“This must be also a lesson for us to learn from and avoid accidents and deaths in the future,” he said.
“Many innocent lives have been lost and this is a great loss for the province.”
Tulg said the dead were from Tambul-Nebilyer, Hagen, and Mul-Baiyer.
He said his clan had lost three women and a baby in the accident.
Meanwhile, Mt Hagen criminal investigation division officer-in-charge Inspector Joe Koi said the 21 deaths were from two crashes at the same location at Ketpeng.
He said apart from the baby, two other victims were under the age of 16.
“According to the crime scene reconstruction, the driver allegedly applied the brakes, turned the steering wheel, went over the drainage system and down the embankment,” he said.
Koi appealed to drivers of buses and trucks to slow down especially when negotiating corners.