NEW GUINEA CRASH

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29859, 27 June 1962, Page 15

NEW GUINEA CRASH

City Climber Searching fN.Z P.A.-Reuter—Cop pripht) HOLLANDIA. June 26 War between two tribes if Papuans in the Hightlands of Dutch New Guinea may hamper an attempt to recover the remains of five American airmen from a plane which crashed on New Guinea’s second highest mountain in World War 11. An expedition led by a Christchurch mountaineer, Philip Temple, set out from Hollandia by air today to set up base camps before climbing 16.500 ft Ngga Pulu in the rugged Carstens range. Temple found the crashed C-47 when climbing in the area earlier this year and two members of the American Graves Registration Service came to New Guinea to try to identify the remains and take them back to the United States. Today the three men flew with their equipment in a DC-3 to the Dutch administration base at Wamena in the Stone Age Baliem valley. From there they will use a Cessna to transport gear to the mission strip further inland, which is about six days hard walking from the foot of Ngga Pulu. It is there they may strike difficulties, because hostilities between two tribes may make it hard for them to get carriers. If carriers are available, they will set up a base camp at the foot of Ngga Pulu and spend about a week in the vicinity of the crashed plane which is about 14,000 ft up the mountain. The party set off without 400 ft of special nylon mountain climbing rope, which Temple had ordered from Christchurch, but they hope it will arrive and be flown in to them before they start the climb.