11 Mar 2005

Five Papuan New Guineans die when boat capsizes during cyclone

3:11 pm on 11 March 2005

Reports from Papua New Guinea say five Papua New Guineans, including two infants, were killed on Tuesday when their boat capsized in high winds whipped up by cyclone Ingrid.

Ingrid has cut a destructive path through the far north of Australia this week.

The Post Courier newspaper says police report the five were in an open boat with eight others when it capsized off Kerema, in the Gulf of PNG, on Tuesday night after a journey from Port Moresby.

The bodies of the infants and their parents were recovered and taken to Kerema but the body of a middle-aged man has yet to be found.