Purari washes up 12 bodies

Post Courier, April 13
By PETER KORUGL

A GOVERNMENT team from Gulf Province is to go into Wabo, the site of InterOil
Limited's Elk and Antelope gas project today to check on reports of a deadly fight
among landowners at the Chimbu-Gulf border.

The trip follows after 12 bodies, bearing axe, spear and knife wounds, were found
floating down the Purari River over the last five days, starting last Wednesday.

"I have arranged two dinghies for a police and medical team to go up the Purari
River. We will go with a doctor and we may have to exhume the bodies as part of our
investigation," provincial police commander for Gulf Province, Reuben Gisiu, said
last night from Kerema town.

"The bodies are confirmed to be Pawaian men, from Wabo. This is where the well head
from the Elk 1 and 2 and Antelope gas project operated by InterOIL is located.
"The coastal villagers have buried the bodies already and the reports reached us
only now (yesterday).

"I have checked with InterOil and the company has confirmed the fighting in the area
it was operating in. I have spoken with Kupana Rural Hospital and it has also
confirmed the fighting.

"These are river people so they obviously threw the dead bodies into the river,"
Senior Insp Gisiu said.

He said villagers at Akoma and Ikinu in Baimuru District collected the bodies after
they were found lodged under mangrove trees or washed ashore with other debris that
came down the river over the week.

The police chief said the bodies were found floating down the Aiviri and Apiope, two
tributaries of the Purari River and were located by the coastal villagers who were
out fishing.

"The villagers at Akoma buried eight bodies, while Akinau villagers buried four
bodies. There could be more floating in the river system or some could even end up
as crocodile meat," the commander said, adding that they would have to move into the
area to confirm the deaths and restore law and order.

Senior Inspector Gisiu said the landowners in Wabo were at loggerheads over the land
where the well head was located and there had been minor skirmishes in the past but
the recent dead toll indicated that the conflict had got out of control. Senior Insp Gisiu said villagers along the Purari and its tributaries were no longer using the water as they feared
pollution and were concerned about their own safety.