The Papua New Guinea government says about 20 of its citizens have not been accounted for in Japan after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami a week ago.
The Post Courier paper says it is not known whether or not they survived the catastrophe.
Papua New Guinea's Foreign Affairs has confirmed only 40 have been accounted for out of what they believe is a total of about 60 that were officially known to live in Japan.
The department also confirmed the 40 have formally indicated they are safe and were not hurt in the earthquake and tsunami.
They have all reported to the PNG Embassy in Japan's capital, Tokyo.
An embassy official say they will seek means to attempt to track down those Papua New Guinea citizens unaccounted for.
