New Lutheran head bishop for Papua New Guinea

Principal of Martin Luther Seminary in Lae Rev Gigere Wenge is the new Head Bishop of the 1.3 million strong Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea.

Rev Wenge was elected at the 27^th Synod of the church to take up the top post left vacant by late Dr Wesley Kigasung in May 2008.

Bishop Wenge holds a degree in theology from the Martin Luther Seminary, a degree in Christian education from Concordia University in USA, a degree in science education from Concordia Seminary in US and also a masters degree in theological studies.

He had served as a pastor in the Kabwum district, chaplain for Balob Teachers College, pastor for Hobu Lutheran congregation and lecturer at Martin Luther Seminary.

He was appointed principal of the seminary in 2007.

Bishop Wenge comes from Boana district in the Morobe province.

Acting head bishop Rev Zau Rapa was re-elected for a second term as assistant bishop while church general secretary Isaac Teo lost his post to Albert Tokave from Kainantu District.

Richard Leahy, P2-MJL and a love affair with rural PNG

Richard Leahy (left) with P2-MJL at Nadzab Airport in 2005.Picture by PACIFIC WRECKS

Body bags and charred plane remains against the backdrop of P2 – MJL.-Picture by BUSTIN ANZU

P2–MJL stands out in the burned-out remains of the Kiunga Aviation Cessna 185.-Picture by BUSTIN ANZU

Richard Leahy in Lae.-Picture by PACIFIC WRECKS

On a wing and a prayer

If you look closely at the remaining tail section of the ill-fated Cessa 185 which crashed into the rugged Saruwaged Ranges on Morobe province on Dec 30 last year, killing a family of six people, you will see the initials P2–MJL.

THE plane, in which veteran pilot Richard Leahy almost died , was appropriately registered as P2-MJL, the initials of his father Michael ‘Mick’ James Leahy - one of Australia's most colourful and successful explorers – and widely revered as one of those pioneer explorers who made first contact with and opened up the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Mr Leahy lived on a wing and a prayer, an unsung hero who in his own quite little way, brought about so much development to rural PNG, flying into places where only eagles dare.

This is why Morobe Governor Luther Wenge’s attack on the aging Australian aviator, who calls PNG home, has opened up a hornet’s nest in both PNG and Australia.

Newspaper pages and the internet have been running hot since Mr Wenge – who lost close relatives in the crash - said Mr Mr Leahy should be charged with manslaughter and deported from the country.

Among these is John Pasquarelli, legendary Sepik River crocodile hunter, member of the first house of assembly in 1964, founder of Pauline Hanson’s infamous One Nation Party in Australia, and now artist and political commentator – who has often been called a “racist”.

“Malum, if I'm a racist then this Wenge is the king of the castle!”he told me in typical dry Australian style.

“I hope Wenge is not a relly of yours mate!”

Mr Pasquarelli continued: “I first met Richard Leahy at his family's farm at Zenag near Mumeng, Morobe district in 1962.

“He was 21 and I was 25.

“Now we are 68 and 72 respectively - how time flies!

“Our friendship continues to this day and I remember many Christmases spent at Zenag with the Leahy family.

“Richard has spent all his life flying apart from a very brief interlude at Sydney University - he often visited air shows in the US.

“I flew with him many times and on one occasion in 1972 he flew me from Lae to Coolangatta in a Cessna 185, dropping me off to see my parents while he went on to Bankstown in NSW to have the aircraft serviced.

“On the return trip we were stopped at Townsville by Cyclone Althea - and then when the weather cleared after a couple of days we returned to Lae.

“Richard visited me many times when I was living on the Sepik and more than not he was flying MJL (Michael James Leahy) - the plane he crashed in.

“His long record of safe flying in a country like PNG with its notoriously-changeable weather conditions and difficult terrain says it all.

“His incredible survival of the horrific crash will not be clarified until he has recovered sufficiently to speak to the accident investigators.

“Well-respected by the locals, Richard played an important part in the lives of the local communities he serviced and when he recovers from his terrible injuries, he will be devastated by the tragic deaths of his passengers.”

I knew Mr Leahy and his first wife Robin from my newspaper days in Lae in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly Robin, who had a deep love of PNG history and culture which she shared passionately with me while her husband was soaring in the skies of PNG.

Richard Leahy’s father Mick Leahy was the feisty figure who led the expeditions in the early 1930s, starting from the historic town of Salamaua in the Morobe province, which established for the first time that the Highlands of PNG were not "empty" but packed with vibrant cultures.

In the 1920s and 1930s, there were adventures to be lived and fortunes to be made by strong young men in the gold fields of New Guinea.

Mick Leahy and his associates explored the unknown interior of New Guinea, seeking gold and making contact for the first time with the inhabitants of the interior mountains and valleys.

Their explorations, recounted in Explorations into Highlands New Guinea, probably represent the last of their kind in the world.

It is a story of five years spent in hot pursuit – not of honor and glory, but of excitement and riches – by one such adventurer Michael ‘Mick’ Leahy, his brothers Jim and Pat, and friends Mick Dwyer and Jim Taylor.

The discovery of gold in New Guinea in 1926 at Edie Creek above Wau lured Mick Leahy (and a short time later his brothers Pat, Jim and Dan) into an adventure that resulted in important geologic, geographic, and ethnographic observations of Stone Age people in a region unknown to the rest of the world at that time.

Mick Leahy - known widely as "Masta Mick" - died 30 years ago at Zenag, on a mountain top in Morobe province, where he is buried.

That adventurous streak and love of PNG passed on to Richard, who was was born in Sydney on June 22, 1941, and returned to New Guinea, only to be evacuated with mother Jeanette (who is still alive) soon after the Japanese took Rabaul.

“I started flying training at Lae in 1959 in a Tiger Moth operated by volunteers from Mandated Airlines and TAA,” he said in a rare interview published on the Pacific Wrecks website http://www.pacificwrecks.com/.

“Finished my training at Archerfield in January 1960 and had a full Australian Private Licence by the end of January.

“I converted onto Cessnas at Bankstown during 1960.

“I bought a Cessna 182, VH-BVE from ANSETT / MAL in 1967.

“This aircraft was originally operated in PNG by Madang Air Services.

“Whilst owned by ANSETT if served as a runabout for the ledgendary Dick Glassey. “Passed my Australian commercial in 1968 and was granted a service licence by the department in the same year.

“I flew the 182 commercially for three years and after that began to operate Cessna 185's. “I still have one today and have chalked up around 15,000 (hours) on this type over the years.

“I have also operated Cessna 402s, 206s, Beech Barons and Islanders.”

Papua New Guinea, particularly our neglected rural people, wait with bated breath to see what happens when Richard Leahy comes out of hospital.

Pictures of the deadly road accident in Papua New Guinea (NOTE: PICTURES ARE QUITE GRAPHIC)

All pictures by SAMSON NELAHO

Hillary Clinton cancels Papua New Guinea visit

From AFP

 

• Hillary Clinton cancels Pacific trip
• Australia, NZ and PNG were on itinerary
• Ms Clinton will concentrate on Haiti crisis

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has cancelled the remainder of a trip to Asia to deal with the crisis afflicting Haiti.

Ms Clinton had been due to visit Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Ms Clinton had been scheduled to leave Hawaii today to make a brief stop in PNG before going on to New Zealand and Australia.

Earlier, she told reporters she planned to continue with the journey but would look to shorten it.

"I have decided to cancel the remainder of my (trip) and return to Washington," Ms Clinton said.

Ms Clinton said she had called Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith with the news and he had been "very understanding" of the decision.

"Thankfully, these are very good friends and they know that we wouldn't be cancelling were it not for something of this magnitude," she said.

"When I talked to the Foreign Minister, he was very understanding.

"I told him we would try to reschedule as soon as we can find a mutually convenient time."

Ms Clinton and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates were to be in Canberra for annual foreign affairs and defence ministerial talks (AUSMIN) on Monday.

Ms Clinton indicated the cancellation would have no impact on an already close relationship with Australia.

"I talk to the Foreign Minister all the time. I know that Secretary Gates talks to his counterpart all the time," she said.

"So we have a very close consultative relationship and we will reschedule the AUSMIN as soon as we can."

Ms Clinton's visits to Papua New Guinea and New Zealand will be rescheduled.

Ms Clinton had planned to meet Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Sunday and was due to visit Melbourne on Tuesday.

Antelope-2 test records more gas condensate

INTEROIL reported Tuesday (January 12, 2010, 03:28pm GMT) that a second drill stem test at its Antelope-2 well at Upper Purari River in Papua New Guinea’s Papuan Gulf confirmed a 15% increase in condensate (liquid gas) production compared with the first drill stem test.

The well flowed at a stabilised rate of about 11 million cubic feet of gas per day, while the condensate to gas ratio averaged 20.7 barrels per million cubic feet of natural gas.

The test is being carried out over an open hole section from 2,222 metres and 2,325 metres.

 “We anticipate that the higher condensate ratio tested in DST-2 of the Antelope structure will improve the previously estimated economics of the stripping plant proposed to be constructed in Gulf Province,” InterOil’s chief executive, Phil Mulacek, said in a statement Tuesday.

InterOil said it would carry out another drill stem test in the lower section of the current open hole before it resumed drilling into targeted heavier condensate and potential oil zone

 Following testing and logging of the lower vertical section of the well bore; the company said it plans to drill a horizontal lateral to explore a potential oil zone.

 

 

 

40 die in horror Papua New Guinea road accident

Villagers assisting survivors from the horrific road accident where two vehicles crashed into each other 130km out of Lae in the Markham Valley on Tuesday afternoon

By PISAI GUMAR and DAISY TANIOVA PAWA in The National

FORTY people have died in the worst road accident in Papua New Guinea.
It happened about 130km out of Lae in the Markham Valley on Tuesday afternoon.
Two 25-seater buses crashed head on at speeds of more than 100km an hour, immediately killing 37 of the 59 people aboard both vehicles.
Three others, who had been severely injured and awaiting transportation to Lae, were later admitted to the Lae International Hospital morgue, at Milfordhaven to take the number of the dead to 40.
Of the 19 survivors, 11 have been treated for injuries and eight have been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Angau Memorial Hospital.
Police and medical workers said last night the number of dead could increase.
It is believed another two dead were taken straight from the crash site to their villagers in the Markham valley. If authorities confirm it, the number of the dead should reach 42, Angau Hospital workers said.
The accident took place at Ragiampum village on the Highlands highway between Umi Bridge and Watarais, which is at the foot of the Kassam Pass and near the Madang and Eastern Highlands borders.
A Route 100 (Highway) coaster bus was heading to Lae from the Highlands loaded with people and fresh produce from Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province.
Its passengers were mainly people from Western Highlands, Simbu, and Eastern Highlands provinces.
The other vehicle, a Route 3 PMV that services the Lae and Gusap route, was loaded with passengers of mainly Markham, Morobe province, origin.
According to eye witnesses at Ragiampum village and the Mutzing police, the buses were trying to avoid a pothole when they collided.
The impact killed the passengers. Some of them were thrown out of the side windows and splayed on the tar. Others were thrown onto grass on the side of the road.
Many of the dead suffered broken heads, necks, and limbs.
Motorists who were after both vehicles arrived immediately to a scene in which the PMVs were smashed outside and ripped inside.
Bodies were lying incongruently in a macabre and bloody scene that profoundly shocked many people who had seen ghastly accidents before.
“This is the nastiest and bloodiest of accidents on the highway,” Markham MP Koni Iguan said. Villagers standing near him agreed.
“We have witnessed less than 10 victims on previous occasions ... this is horrific.”

Escapees' hideouts still unknown

By DULCIE OREKE in The National

 

POLICE yesterday afternoon still had no leads into the whereabouts of the 12 escapees who walked out from PNG’s highest maximum security unit at Bomana Jail, on the outskirts of Port Moresby on Tuesday morning.

Acting deputy commissioner of police, chief of operations Raphael Huafolo yesterday said police really did not know where the escapees were but were still looking for them.

He said the people were in fear and were scared to come forward to give any information regarding their escape but it would take time as they were dealing with people.

In the mean time, he said that when they did get any forwarding information police would have to assess and check those information.

Mr Huafolo however, advised the public to co-operate with police and report the matter to them for any sightings of the escapees.

“All information will be treated confidentially,” Mr Huafolo said.     

He also appealed to the escapees to voluntarily surrender to police.

Meanwhile, police in the Milne Bay province have stepped up operations at all entry points into the province for any possible access by the 12 dangerous men.

“More than 20 policemen will be deployed to the airport, waterfronts and along the boarder areas of Oro and Central provinces to check all boats, aircrafts and people entering the province,” provincial police Lincoln Gerari said.

He said although they had not received any leads into the exact location of the escapees, police were prepared to ensure that Milne Bay province was not threatened.

Insp Gerari called on the public