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.
Later in the day, Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape confirmed the information.
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, Marape said, noting that according to information received, all the captives "are alive."
"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 hostage takers.
"We've got police and military on stand-by to assist. But, in the first instance, we want those criminals to release those who are held in captivity," Marape said.
The professor has not been named publicly because of the sensitivity of the situation.
"We have been keeping this under close wraps because of the sensitivity and the need for us to get our friends (who were) captured, get them alive and safe," Marape added.
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 a New Zealand pilot hostage, demanding that the Indonesian government stop using force against rebels.
