Hagen Hell

This article has been submitted by a GrownUps member. GrownUps accepts no liability for its content and the views and information contained within are not necessarily those of the GrownUps website.

It was a Saturday morning in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea. My flat deck truck was in the workshop undergoing a check-up. My wife and I decided to walk into the main area of Mt Hagen township. We had our three young children with us. As we walked from a supermarket across an elevated grassed area all hell broke out. Two groups of village tribes men arrived in the road on the left of us and on the road to the right of us. We were trapped between the two armed tribesmen groups. They were smashing all windows and whacking cars with their axes. The police arrived and began shooting at the tribesmen with their pistols. We didn't know where to go. Then the police started shooting tear gas. We began to gag on the gas and our eyes were stinging. The children aged 2, 5 and 8, were very frightened. And so were we. Suddenly a couple of Papua New Guinean men arrived at our sides. They picked up the youngest children and guided us through the fight into a safe area out of harms way. After washing the tear gas out of our eyes we settled into the back of the supermarket until the fighting had stopped. Eventually we were able to walk back to out flat in safety.

print