Papua New Guinea news stories on Newser

238 Saved, 112 Still Missing in Ferry Wreck

Kevin Spak — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:10:05 CST

Rescuers have managed to find 238 survivors of the ferry that sank off Papua New Guinea yesterday and get them to safety—but that still leaves 112 of the 350 who were aboard the Rabaul Queen unaccounted for, the New York Times reports. Search teams, which are using three ships,...

Papua New Guinea Ferry Sinks With 350 Onboard

Rob Quinn — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:23:47 CST

Hundreds of people are missing and feared dead after a ferry with up to 350 people on board sank off Papua New Guinea's northern coast. Merchant ships that arrived on the scene after the Rabaul Queen sent a distress signal have rescued 28 people, and helicopters have joined the operation,...

World's Smallest Frog Found

Rob Quinn — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:33:00 CST

A species of frog so tiny that several of them could fit on a fingernail with room to spare has been found hopping around the forests of Papua New Guinea. At 0.27 inches long, Paedophryne amauensis is the smallest frog ever discovered and, by some measures, is the world's...

Plane Carrying 32 Goes Down in Papua New Guinea

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:48:47 CDT

A plane carrying 32 passengers went down in Papua New Guinea today, and local villagers say just four people survived the crash. The Airlines PNG Dash 8, a twin-propeller plane, crashed en route from Lae to Madang, the AP reports; there was reportedly a violent storm going on at the...

Body Found in Home of Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:23:55 CDT

Police arrested the adopted son of Papua New Guinea's acting prime minister after a woman's body was found at their family home, an official said today. Acting PM Sam Abal said he had personally reported the "alleged murder" on Monday after the woman's body was found at the family home...

WWII Pilot Who Forever Repaid Rescuers Dies at 94

Polly Davis Doig — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:41:36 CST

Shot down by a Japanese fighter in 1943, a young US pilot landed in the jungle of a Japanese-held island. He survived, barely, for a month before fate and Pacific islanders found him, nursed him back to health in secret, and eventually got him back in American hands. Fred Hargesheimer,...

Indonesia Issues Tsunami Warning After 6.8 Quake

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:05:42 CDT

Indonesia says it issued a tsunami warning after a powerful quake hit off Papua New Guinea. The US Geological Survey says the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and was centered 325 miles northeast of the capital, Port Morseby. It struck 31 miles beneath the ocean floor. Fauzi,...

Giant Rat Found in 'Lost Volcano'

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:01:21 CDT

A new species of giant rat with no fear of humans has been discovered in a volcanic crater deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. It's the same kind of rat "you find in city sewers"—except it's 32 inches long, said a scientist traveling with a BBC film...

'Witch' Murders Rattle New Guinea

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:05:35 CDT

An increasing number of women are being tortured and murdered in a series of witch hunts in Papua New Guinea, reports the Independent . The problem is so severe that the government has launched a new commission to address it. Women are often blamed for any untimely death in a tribe....