Companies keep tight security in Lae

MOST companies in Lae opened for business yesterday under heavy security but could not operate at their fullest capacity, The  National  reports.
Food manufacturing and industrial companies reported operating with minimal staff as many had stayed home in fear or could not travel to work due to lack of transportation.
Construction companies involved in fixing the Lae roads had completely shut down operations.
Many multi-national companies did not respond to questions regarding loss of business.

Team formed to probe ethnic tension

THE Morobe provincial executive committee has appointed an assembly law and order committee to look into ethnic tension in the city, The National reports.
The committee is headed by former premier and Salamaua president Hagai Joshua.
Members of the committee are Works chairman and Wain Erap president Charlie Foike, Gagidu Mayor Manaseh Laine, Forest chairman and Wampar president Peter Namus, Kabwum MP Bob Dadae and chairman for Culture and Tourism and Menyamya president Thompson Molinguso.
Deputy administrator district services Patilius Gamato is also on the committee. 
They had been tasked to come up with short, medium and long-term solutions to the law and order problem in the city.

Public transport still not working in Lae

By ELLEN TIAMU

PUBLIC transport in Lae has not been fully restored, The National reports.
Many people had to walk to work yesterday morning.
Some employees were picked up in their company vehicles or by friends while many had to leave home early to make the long walk to work.
Many members of the public, caught unawares, ran out of food during the weekend and could not go to town as the situation was tense.
sOME people walked more than 5km to shops in Chinatown and the main market area to buy rice and canned food.
After fights broke out in various parts of Lae city last Thursday, public motor vehicles stopped their services in and out of Lae.
Many became victims of vented anger after fights broke out onto the street in sections of the city.
The fights began when opportunists tried to take advantage of a burning shop near the Lae market.
About half an hour later, another fight started at Top Town after Morobean youths tried to petition Governor Luther Wenge at the provincial assembly and Morobe administration headquarters in town over law and order issues.
With police personnel from Port Moresby beefing up security numbers over the weekend, PMV users had to walk or catch lifts to town.
No one waited at the bus stops because there was no PMV operating.
many people who came into town had to leave early to either find transport or walk all the way home.
Many employers allowed staff to leave work early to go home.
Meanwhile, the Australian government had advised its citizens “to exercise a high degree of caution in Papua New Guinea because of high levels of serious crime”.
A travel alert advised
Australians to “pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks”.

Lae violence affects church project

By MALUM NALU

The violence in Lae has affected a partnership initiative between a Lutheran church group there and another in Adelaide, South Australia.

Adelaide-based Rebecca Ogan Kiage, who lives in Lae but is now studying in Adelaide,  had been working on the initiative between Lae’s Church of Hope in East Taraka with St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Adelaide for the benefit of Lanakapi School at Tent City, was greatly disappointed.

“They would like to seal the deal for partnership for both school and church this month, however, the riot is not helping,” she said today (Monday).

“This week was the Lae people’s time to sort their visas, but with what’s happening, they have been unable to access funds at the bank.

“So much is at stake here, especially for a group from Lae’s Lutheran Church of Hope Parish at East Taraka, which was planning a trip to Adelaide on Nov 29 to explore partnership with the St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Adelaide to initiate church projects, particularly for the Lanakapi school at Tent City and also other collective projects that would benefit the settlement communities around Lae city.

“The team from the Church of Hope was planning to visit on Nov 29 and this was formalised with St Paul’s Lutheran Church here in Adelaide, however the riot has greatly hindered their progress.

“The team from Lae is now in a dilemma as to how they would access their funds and proceed with their visa arrangements to travel to Adelaide.

“If this riot continues this initiative will be delayed and sadly, the people from Lae will greatly miss out on such generosity by both churches that aims to better the lives of communities in Lae through mutual partnership and respect from both churches.”

Kiage said there was a collective negligence on all paths which contributed to the riot.

“The best strategy now is for government, law-enforcing agency and community leaders to address this issue and restore peace and normalcy,” she said.

Prices rise amid Lae strife

PRICES of goods shot up by more than 40% in trade stores throughout Lae city, in Morobe, last weekend, The National reports.
All major shops were closed giving the trade store operators the opportunity to increase their prices.
Many workers who received their salaries on Friday had nowhere to buy store goods due to the violence in the city.
Some tried to buy food from neighbours.
In trade stores from Bumbu settlement to Bumayong, a 1kg packet of rice rose from K4.60 to K5.50 while K3 cell phone credit cards were going for K5.
Loose cigarettes jumped to K1 from 60 toea and betelnut went from 70t to K1. Mustard was sold separately for 30 toea apiece.
Cracker biscuits, which sold for K1, were going for K1.50 while ice block, which were sold for 20t each, were selling for 50t.
In liquor black markets, the SP Brown stubby went from K5 to K7.
Shops including Freddy’s at Milfordhaven, Pelgens at Chinatown and Milfordhaven, Raumai and Stephens at the market were guarded by police and allowed only 10 shoppers in at a time.
The Lae Bakery at the market was open for most of the weekend but had tight security and served people through security bars before fully opening its doors late yesterday afternoon

‘Over-speeding’ propellers blamed for Dash 8 disaster

By JASON GIMA WURI

THE fatal Airlines PNG Dash 8 crash on Oct 13 near Madang was caused by the “over-speeding” of both propellers, a preliminary report of the Papua New Guinea Accident Investigation Commission has found, The National reports.
The commission said the propellers exceeded their maximum permitted revolutions per minute by more than 60%.
It said because of this there was a loud “bang” which witnesses on the ground reported hearing.
The flight crew then shut down both engines.
“At 5.17pm the crew made a mayday call to air traffic control and indicated they were having an in-flight emergency and that both engines had stopped.
“Madang tower then declared a search and rescue phase, believing the aircraft was about to ditch into the ocean.
“But the aircraft landed on a sparsely timbered terrain on the northern side of the Buang River, 33km southeast of Madang town, killing 28 of the 32 people on board.”
The report said that on impact, the plane was badly damaged while colliding with trees and the ground and an intense fuel-fed fire started.
Villagers who had heard and seen the aircraft in the final stages of its descent rushed to the crash site to find the fuselage engulfed in flames.
They then helped the four survivors and took them to the nearest aid post.
The preliminary report was released last Friday by the commission’s acting chief exec­utive officer Sid O’Toole, who said they had met the requirement for a preliminary report to be ready within 30 days.
It said the pilot in command, 64, and his 40-year-old first officer had 18,200 flying hours and 2,750 flying hours respectively, with both holding valid PNG airlines transport pilot licences.
The report said the flight progressed normally and flight P2-MCJ was transferred to Madang air traffic control at 5.10pm on descent into Madang.
“The descent profile on this sector was steep because of the proximity of the Finisterre Ranges to Madang and the pilot, who was the handling pilot, was hand-flying the aircraft because the autopilot was unserviceable.”
The report said the pilot was manoeuvring the aircraft visually to avoid cloud and thunderstorms.
At 5.12pm, in response to a request from Madang tower, the flight crew stated that the aircraft was 24 nautical miles from Madang, leaving 13,000ft on descent.
O’Toole said: “The Dash 8 has a turbine engine which runs through a gear box and it runs through the propellers and over-speed caused self-destruction.
“The investigations have been supersonic and we thank Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for visiting the site and we are glad that O’Neill has made a commitment to release funds to complete the investigation,” he said.
“We thank TropicAir for their help in this time.”
Civil Aviation Minister Puri Ruing thanked the commission, the Aviation Transport Safety Bureau of Australia, the Transport Safety Board of Canada, aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, engine manufacturer Pratt and Whitney, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of PNG (CASA) and Airlines PNG for their cooperation and help in enabling the investigation to progress
efficiently and effectively, resulting in the preliminary report being issued in under 30 days.
“The accident investigation will continue for some time in order to establish root casual factors for the accident and the final report may take a year to complete due to the detailed analysis that is required,” Ruing said.
The information in the preliminary report was derived from initial investigation of the occurrence.
However, people were cautioned that there was the possibility that new evidence may become available that altered the circumstances described in the preliminary findings.

State-of-emergency warning for Lae!

A STATE of emergency will be declared in the violence-raked industrial city of Lae if the situation does not return to normal today, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said in Port Moresby yesterday.

A police mobile unit personnel inspecting a deserted residential area torced during the weekend violence.-Nationalpic by PISAE GUMAR

The prime minister’s announcement came as a 120-member police detachment from three mobile squads fought to restore order in Lae.
Yesterday, The National independently confirmed five dead and 26 injured.
However, the numbers of deaths and those injured could be higher with the prime minister’s official statement citing nine people dead.
Allegations by relatives of the dead and the wounded that the shooting was by police could not be confirmed last night.
Many claimed police shot discriminately and would not allow the wounded and dead past roadblocks to be transported to the hospital, claims which again elicited no response from the police.
Many thousands of kina worth of properties, homes and businesses were damaged in the violence.
Already Lae and surrounding areas had been declared a fighting zone with stringent control on the movement of people from November until January.
The spate of violence began last Thursday in Top Town after a protest march over crime in Lae went terribly wrong and spread over the weekend into the nearby settlements of Kamkumung, Bumayong and Butibam.
Displaced settlers, mainly from the highlands, were gathered at a church and police barracks calling for relief assistance and repatriation to their provinces of origin.
Lae residents were queuing for provisions at tucker boxes and those few shops that remained open over the weekend.
The prime minister was at pains to point out that a state of emergency would be the “last option” but it will be imposed if order was not restored today.
“I would like to see life in the city return to normal tomorrow (today) and businesses allowed to open their doors,” he said.
“Lae is an important port city. It is our industrial hub. Its port provides a vital link for businesses in many parts of the country. A shutdown will not only cripple businesses but will affect the economy. We cannot allow this.”
O’Neill said an investigation would establish the cause of the uprising.
Internal Security Minister John Boito and acting Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga were expected to visit Lae today to assess the situation.