Youth falls to death while trekking Kokoda

A YOUTH fell off a steep cliff along the legendary Kokoda Track and died instantly while trekking last week.
The smashed body of the 17-year-old youth from Tufi was found on the base of the first fall at the Isurava Memorial Park along the track
He was trekking the Kokoda Track with his big brother under a programme run by the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA).
 KTA confirmed running a programme but was not aware of the incident involving the death of the youth.
However, police stationed in Kokoda who were involved in assisting in transporting the body of the youth to Popondetta General Hospital morgue, confirmed the cliff incident.
Kokoda community leader Orika Kenia, who informed the media of the incident from Kokoda, said it was a tragic incident.
Kenia said the youth was trying to peer down the cliff to see the river at its bottom when he slipped and fell off the cliff.
Kenia said the youth slipped as the rocks he was standing on  were slippery.
He said the body was cleaned and transported to Popondetta hospital morgue by the Kokoda Memorial Hospital, who retrieved it from the bottom of the cliff.
Kenia, however, claimed KTA never informed the Kokoda local level government or the Kokoda community that it was running a programme along the track where local people were involved.
He urged KTA, a business arm of the Kokoda and Koiri LLGs, to inform the communities along the track in the future so that they could provide assistance in whatever ways to assist trackers or participants of programmes.
Kenia comforted the youth’s parents who were informed of their son’s death after the body reached the morgue in Popondetta.