MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2023) An Australian professor and his three colleagues have been taken hostage by an armed group in Papua New Guinea demanding a ransom payment from both Papuan and Australian governments, media reported on Monday.
The professor and his fellow researchers, including a research program coordinator and two graduates of the University of Papua New Guinea, were doing field study in the country's remote Highlands Region when they were captured by armed men, Australian broadcaster ABC news reported.
The authorities of Papua New Guinea have initiated talks with the kidnappers, Prime Minister James Marape said.
"I just want to inform the families of those taken hostage that we have been at work and contact has been made with people in the bush," Marape told journalists, as quoted by the broadcaster.
The prime minister added that missionaries in the area were providing help as mediators in talks with the criminals.
A similar incident occurred earlier in the month in the western part of the New Guinea island where local separatist groups fighting for independence from Indonesia took hostage a New Zealand pilot demanding that the Indonesian government stop using force against rebels.
