Tabling of report brings relief to parent

By LESLIE OMARO
AN East New Britain pastor who lost his daughter in the sinking of the mv Rabaul Queen is relieved following the tabling of the Commission of Inquiry Report.
“My family has finally got some sense of relief after learning that the inquiry report was tabled in parliament on Wednesday,” Linus Tokile said yesterday.
“I would like to thank Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for keeping his word and tabling the report.
“I know that other families who have lost their loved ones will have some sense of relief,” he said.
Tokile’s daughter Sharon, third in the family, was on her way to attend her first year at the Polytech Institute in Lae, Morobe, when she met her fate on board the vessel.
She was listed as one of the many missing passengers whose bodies were never recovered after the sinking of the vessel off the Finschhafen coast, Morobe.
Tokile was present at the inquiry public hearing in Kimbe in May.
“I’m so thankful to the leaders of this nation, especially the prime minister, for appointing the inquiry to look into the sinking of Rabaul Queen.
 “The country has lost its future leaders through this disaster,” Tokile said.
The commission headed by Justice Warwick Andrew and assisted by counsel Mal Varitimos and Emmanuel Asigau started the hearings in Port Moresby, then moved to Lae, Kokopo, Buka, Kimbe and back to Port Moresby.
The final inquiry report was given to the prime minister by Justice Warwick at the end of June for it to be tabled in parliament.