Trekkers attacked by PNG bandits tell of horror

SYDNEY: A group of Australian and New Zealand trekkers brutally attacked by bandits in Papua New Guinea told Thursday of their harrowing ordeal and horror as two porters were butchered.
The eight tourists were in their tents on the remote jungle-clad Black Cat Track in the lawless Pacific nation’s northern Morobe province when a mob of six armed men struck at dusk on Tuesday.
Two porters were hacked to death with machetes, one reportedly partially decapitated, while up to six others were seriously wounded. Four of the Australians were also injured, including one who was speared through the leg.
“It started to rain and some of us were inside the tents when there was a whole lot of noise, shouting. I thought the boys had found a bush kangaroo, an animal or something like that,” one of the survivors, Nick Bennett, told Channel Nine after arriving in the capital Port Moresby.
“Next thing, I thought ‘what’s going on’, I put my head outside tent and smack — I thought I’d been shot actually,” he said of being hit with a rifle butt. “Blood just erupted out of my head and I looked up and I saw this guy with a mask on standing over me, and then the whole thing unfolded. “They were laying into the porter boys. I realized they were butchering the porters. It was just appalling and we’re very fortunate.”
Another survivor, Peter Stevens, told Australian Associated Press he and the rest of the group were forced to lie on the ground as the men ransacked their backpacks, stealing passports and other items.
“They then laid into us with bush knives, hitting us with the flats of the knives,” Stevens said. “You can’t tell whether they’re going to hit you with the flat side. Some people were cut.” Stevens said two of the thugs were clearly on drugs and “they did the most damage.”
PNG media said at least three of the attackers were believed to be prison escapees.