Popondetta General Hospital mortuary full

The Popondetta General Hospital is running out of space to store dead bodies in the mortuary.

Chief Executive Officer Dr Gunzee Gawin told Loop PNG that the hospital mortuary will only cater for 12 bodies.

“Right now, we have more than 20 bodies in the mortuary. Some were unclaimed bodies from last year.”

However, he thanked the Swire Shipping for providing a 30ft container for the hospital to use and place some bodies in.

Dr Gawin said a mass burial will be made for the deceased either this weekend or next Monday.

He told Loop PNG that four coroners will be flying in from Port Moresby to Popondetta tomorrow to conduct the post mortem before the burial.

The doctors will be led by the country’s top surgeon Dr Philip Golpak.

Dr Gawin confirmed that 13 passengers were confirmed dead while the others are fighting for their lives at the ICU.

He said the doctors are closely monitoring their situation.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the deceased are demanding K50 million compensation from the Higaturu Oil Palm for the death of their loved ones.

The accident happened on Monday afternoon where a PMV truck with 29 passengers which involved a PMV truck and an oil fruit truck claimed 13 lives while the other passengers are under treatment at the Popondetta General Hospital.

Author: 
Freddy Mou