Aussies hurt, guides killed in PNG

Tour leader Christina King. Source: Supplied

FOUR Australian trekkers have been injured, two of their guides hacked to death and another five badly injured when bandits attacked them on the first night of a trek in Papua New Guinea's highlands.

The group of seven Australians, one New Zealander and their local porters were setting up camp on the first night of a walk on the Black Cat track when they were attacked by a group of men armed with bush knives and machetes.

The group were on an organised walk with PNG Trekking  and were setting up camp at dusk in the village of Banis-Donki, about 200km north of Port Moresby, when they were ambushed.

Two PNG porters were hacked to death in the attack, which happened on Tuesday. Five others were seriously injured.

The Australians and New Zealander - who live in NSW, Victoria and Queensland - were all assaulted.

Four received knife wounds. Their injuries are not life-threatening. The group, in shock and many with injuries, then trekked back to Wau in the dark, leaving the porters in Banis-Donki.

"They have cuts and abrasions and are in shock,"  PNG Trekking boss Mark Hitchcock told News Corp.

Bandits have attacked a group of Australian and New Zealand trekkers in PNG, killing two local porters.

He said they hoped to airlift the group from Wau back to Port Moresby on Wednesday.

"They are taking stock but want to stay together," he said.

Mr Hitchcock said that while he didn't want to speculate on the cause of the attack he confirmed "all the trekkers had everything stolen".

He said that while four of the eight Australian trekkers were injured in the attack they were "all able to walk off the track by themselves".

The group fled from the village, where they had been staying for only a few hours before they were attacked.

"They had arrived into the village about one o'clock in the afternoon and had set their tents up," Mr Hitchcock said.

Armed bandits attacked an Australian trekking group in the PNG highlands, killing two guides.

"The attack occurred somewhere between three and four o'clock."

"The first village they went back to is quite some distance as well…they were met there at 8 o'clock at night.

"We mobilised assistance from a nearby mining joint venture and they sent medics as well as local porters."

Helicopters have been sent to airlifted the injured porters from the village.

"They all have knife wounds,'' said Morobe Mining Joint Venture (MMJV) spokesman Stanley Komunt, referring to the porters.

"We want to get them out quickly," Mr Hitchock said.

"We are deeply shocked by what happened."

Mr Hitchcock said police had sent a helicopter carrying four specialist police officers to the scene of the attack and the trekking group were expected to arrive in Port Moresby this afternoon.

"They're in transit now from Lae to the Bulolo airport. They should be getting in to the hospital between two and three this afternoon.

"They'll be in Port Moresby overnight.

"It's a shock for tourism in New Guinea...the trek is nowhere near the other treks people do in New Guinea.

"The incident is an isolated incident."

Daniel King, husband of trek leader Christie King, said: "Everything's okay, in terms of the group.

"A few of them have cuts and bruises and stitches. We have a plan now to get them out."

The Australian High Commission will meet with the group when they return to Port Moresby.

Elmore Lumpay was the medical officer on duty at the Lae International Hospital when the call came through about the attack.

"We organised a team to go up right away," Mr Lumpay said.

"They told us it was a bad attack.

"There is a surgeon up there as well as a nurse.

"The surgeon called us and said they would be here sometime today with the tourists...they only have minor injuries."

Mr Lumpay said that he had heard the PNG nationals were all still at the site as they were "too injured to be moved".

POSSIBLE MOTIVE

Dr John Garap, who has a medical clinic in Morobe Province, said he suspected local jealousy was behind the attack.

"I suspect (the violence) was probably between the tribes themselves. They were probably arguing over whether they should have taken turns being carriers for the trekkers," he said.

"The road that they were walking on is an old wartime track. It's very mountainous and goes through several villages and I think they (the locals) were arguing that they should have taken turns in assisting the trekkers across the mountain as porters."

The 60-year-old GP, who was educated in Queensland, said the trekking company contacted him after the incident.

"There was an incident last night and a helicopter was going out there to pick them up," he said.

"One of the relatives of the trekking team wanted me to recommend an emergency facility for them.

"I have not treated them but I referred them to the emergency department of the Angau General Hospital in Lae.

"I think they basically just had first aid and then were transferred to Port Moresby on their way to Australia."  

Meanwhile Kokoda Track trekking company operator and NSW Liberal MLC Charlie Lynn said he believed a serious attack was "an inevitability".

"I believe that what has happened on the Black Cat Track is a direct result of the failure of the Australian Government to appreciate that more Australians will want to follow the footsteps of our veterans in PNG," Mr Lynn said. "They have a duty of care to ensure they can do it safely and that the wartime integrity of the places they will visit is protected."

"This is something that was inevitably going to happen.

"They've refused to listen to people who've had experience in PNG."

It is unknown how many bandits were involved.

BLACK CAT TRACK

THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS PLACES

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has recommended trekkers avoid the Black Cat track.

Read the advice on New Guinea here.

The Black Cat track is a rough overland track in Morobe Province. It runs from the village of Salamaua on the coast of the Huon Gulf, south into the mountains to the township of Wau, about 220km north of Port Moresby.

The track started out in the 1920s and 30s as a trail for prospectors seeking to get rich on the gold in Wau.

They traveled from the port Salamaua on a treacherous three to four-day hike through leech-infested territory, a trail that has been described by trekking agencies which run walks in the area as "suitable only for masochists and Israeli Paratroopers".

It is an area rarely frequented by tourists.

Mr Hitchock said there had never been any trouble in the past on the trek.

"This has shocked us all," he said.

It was the scene of bitter fighting between Australian and US troops and Japanese forces in 1943. It is regarded as one of the most arduous walks in PNG.

Earlier this year, then home affairs minister Jason Clare and coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison walked the track, accompanied by a pair of wounded soldiers.

Violence against foreigners is not unknown in PNG. In April, an Australian man was killed and a woman gang raped by a mob in the Western Highlands.

Robert "Bob" Purdy, 62, from Melbourne, died instantly after being shot at point blank range when a group of up to 10 men confronted him at a house on the outskirts of Mt Hagen.

The men then raped a female guest at the house.

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