Trekkers exposed to cold, hunger: Rescued man

A GROUP of 20 men including women lost their way and were stranded along Snake Creek in the Sarawaget ranges while trying to walk from Finschhafen to Indagen in Kabwum, Morobe.
Four people, including a pastor, are believed to have died and three are missing while on a trekking with a group heading to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the first Lutheran Mission in Morobe.
Manolos Aviation chief pilot Capt Jürgen Ruh flew Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae to Indagen yesterday and was alerted by former Morobe Governor Luther Wenge of the group’s plight.
“We were advised by Luther Wenge and Sir Bob me to conduct air surveillance for some people that were believed to be missing. I was looking for smoke and surely enough, seven miles off from Konge I saw the first plumes,” Ruh told The National.
“I landed and there were men rushing to jump on the helicopter. I asked them what happened and they said ‘man i dai na kisim bagarap long hapsait maunten’ (men are dead over on the other mountain).
“I got only one person on board to assist in the search all over the area, we were at 12,000 feet (3650m) still searching but couldn’t find the others,” he said.
“The guy was really cold and had no clue about their exact location and where to look for the others. We were running out of fuel also so we had to come to Lae.”
In Lae, Ruh said the men he picked up insisted that people were dying from exposure to cold weather and hunger as they had walked for 10 days and needed food, warm clothes and shelter.
“The guy said they had lost trek and never knew the direction to travel where and how to get to Indagen. So I decided to fly back into the area, with food, two cartons of biscuit and tinned fish.”