YOUNG THOMAS SAVED IN MEDIVAC AIRLIFT BY SANTOS
THIS is 12-year-old Thomas Jeff, from Sebese village in Bosavi in Southern Highlands Province.
The look on his face tells you of his desperation.
Just like any village kid in the rural outback of Papua New Guinea, Thomas has that adventurous streak of exploring the jungle.
Three day ago, Thomas was in the bush, having climbed a tree, and was perched on a branch.
He was looking for bush tucker and a meal of a feathered flyer looked within easy reach of his sling shot.
However, the boy lost his balance and fell off the tree.
According to reports from Bosavi, Thomas suffered a broken leg, while his feathered prey had flown off to live another day.
Thomas endured a night of agony before being medivaced to safety by oil and gas explorer Santos.
As you may have read from our front page story this week, Bosavi is a very remote part of South highlands, where government services are nonexistent.
Despite hosting a quarter of the oil and gas in PNG, there are no roads in the Bosavi area.
Mount Bosavi is an extinct volcano south west of the beautiful Lake Kutubu.
It is a prominent 2000 metres high peak on the border Great Papuan Plateau between Southern Highlands, Western and Gulf Provinces.
The only way to save Thomas’s leg is to carry him out on the bush stretcher that he is laying on.
This could take days as there are no roads and many raging rivers to cross.
According to Cathy Alex, Program Manager of Advancing PNG Women Leaders Network Inc, experienced the hardship when she visited Bosavi late last month.
She said contact was established with oil and gas stakeholder Santos in the area to assist medivac Thomas to a medical facility.
The good news is that young Tom was medivaced to safety on Thursday.
Chocal Sawe, the Chairman of Mt Bosavi community-based Eco-Tourism Association thanked Santos for the medivac operation.
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This story of the hardships faced by the people of Mount Bosavi was featured on the Post-Courier front page on Tuesday. |
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