Search continues for missing trio

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By JUNIOR UKAHA
A SEARCH is still continuing to recover the bodies of three people who went missing after being carried away by floodwaters following heavy rain in the Watut area in Morobe last weekend.
Bulolo district administrator Tae Gwambalek said the three were among seven people who were carried away by floodwaters on Sunday between 7-9pm following heavy rain.
The seven were a five-year-old boy, a teenager, two females and three males.
Gwambalek said the corpses of the little boy, the females and an elderly man were recovered but search was still going on for the other two males and the student.
“We have alerted the people living down the Watut River to keep an eye for the bodies,” he said.
“We are telling them to look for signs like vultures, fish or wild animals gathering because the body may decompose and attract the animals.
“People near Pararoa village are also digging the mud along the river banks in the hope of finding the bodies.”
Gwambalek said four bodies were transported to the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae yesterday afternoon.
He said the flood came after a natural dam at the Watut headwaters burst open during the heavy rain.
He said the water came with mud, trees and other materials and carried anything within its vicinity away.
“The victims did not know that the dam had broken and a large flow of water and rubbish will be coming their way,” he said.
“So they crossed the river without knowing the flood when they were carried away.
“Search is continuing for the three bodies that were never recovered.”