Three drown after boat with dead body capsizes

A BOAT carrying and a body to be buried capsized killing on Thursday three people.
There were 30 people on board.
Police recovered the body of a four-year-old girl near Pityluh Islands in Manus yesterday.
The body of a six-year-old boy was found on Friday morning on the shore at Mokereng, and that of a 17-year-old girl was recovered at Point Chopon the same night.
Provincial Police Commander David Yapu said that all three were reported missing at the Lombrum Naval Base shore.
“The passengers were on their way to bury a woman relative,” he said.
“The body was being transported in a dinghy when the boat capsized together with five children and 25 adults.
“As they were nearing the Pityluh Islands, strong winds and waves lashed the boat, capsizing it. The passengers held on to the side of the boat, drifted for about 30 minutes and were rescued by people on a passing boat.”
The provincial disaster office and police were informed that the three were missing and a search and rescue operation was launched.
An Australian naval vessel was in the area and helped in the search.
The search had to be called off at 6pm because of bad weather.