Survivor recounts crash

By Lorraine Jimal
A SURVIVOR of the Caribou plane crash has shared his story during the 48th anniversary of the event held at the De La Salle Secondary School.
Joseph Fragi, a retired lawyer, was 16 when he and 24 others boarded the Royal Australian Air Force Caribou aircraft in Lae bound for Port Moresby.
“I was asleep and suddenly heard a noisy sound before the plane hit the mountain.
“I didn’t know what happened. Luckily I was alive, Fragi said.
“We stayed in the bush without knowing where we were.
“I was confused,” he said.
“When I woke up the next morning, I saw the trees and I knew that we had crashed.
“I had severe injuries and I talked to the other survivors who were not really good.”
Fragi said they walked down the mountain before a helicopter found them four days later.
They were taken to the Angau general hospital.
“We survive in the bush for four days without food and water,” Fragi said.
The 25 students and the five crew were on board the aircraft when it crashed in the mountains of Wau-Bulolo in bad weather.
Five survived but one died later. Two passed away in 2010. The two remaining ones are Joseph and Patrick Gau, a retired pastor.