Three, die one missing at sea overturns

 THREE people died and one is missing after a dinghy loaded with 82 bags of betel nuts and a drum of fuel capsized in rough seas at the Kikori River delta in Gulf last Sunday.

Provincial emergency and disaster coordinator Avai Kivare said: “Two people survived by swimming ashore. They were on the way from Ihu to Daru in Western to sell betel nuts when the engine failed and the dinghy capsized.” 

He said another dinghy full of landowners of the Kutubu and ExxonMobil pipeline site also capsized on the day but there were no casualities.

“The landowners were travelling back to their respective villages in the West Kikori area when their dinghy capsized at the delta of the Tairuma River,” Kivare told The National yesterday.

“They were returning home from Port Moresby after getting their royalty payments from the gas and oil pipelines. 

“These pipe lines run through their land from oil fields in Southern Highlands to the Kumul offshore terminal at the mouth of the Kikori River and gas fields from Hela to the LNG terminal at Napanapa in Central.