In Papua New Guinea (PNG), several researchers, including local academics and an Australian professor, have been taken hostage at gunpoint.
According to media reports, when the group was taken hostage by armed men while on a study trip in remote highlands.
According to authorities, a ransom has been demanded for their release.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape says authorities are in contact with the kidnappers and hope to have the hostages released “alive and safe”.
A larger group was initially taken captive but some local guides have since been released, according to reports.
It is unclear exactly how many people remain held, but Australian news outlets put the number at four or five. They include academics and students from PNG as well as an archaeologist from an Australian university.
Reporters were informed by Mr. Marape that PNG authorities had spoken with the Australian man who had confirmed the group was alive.
Police and the military, according to him, were prepared to help and that there were “running conversations” between authorities and the kidnappers.
“But, in the first instance, we want those criminals to release those who are held in captivity,” he said.
“There is no place to run, there is no place to hide.”
Mr Marape did not specify when the group was taken and said the situation had been kept “under close wraps because of the sensitivity”.
However, he made an effort to reassure the hostages’ families by declaring: “I’m confident, I’m optimistic, I’m prayerful that we get them out. “.
In the nearby Indonesian province of Papua, separatist fighters kidnapped a New Zealand pilot earlier this month.
Author-Roberta Appiah
