No further charges over PNG ferry disaster

4:55 pm on 23 October 2018

The Papua New Guinea public prosecutor has decided not to pursue the remaining charges brought against officials of the company operating the ferry the Rabaul Queen.

The Rabaul Queen

The Rabaul Queen Photo: Supplied

At least 172 people died when the ferry sank off Morobe on 2 February, 2012.

The National newspaper said the Public Prosecutor, Pondros Kaluwin, in a letter to the National Court in Kokopo, had declined to lay charges against Peter Sharp, Grace Amen and Anthony Tsiau in relation to disaster.

Mr Sharp, the owner of the ship, and Mr Tsiau, the master of the vessel, were cleared of 172 manslaughter charges in July last year.

The three faced pending charges concerning sending the Rabaul Queen to sea in such an unseaworthy state they lives of the people on board were likely to be endangered.

The National reported that Mr Kaluwin had not commented on why he decided not to pursue the charges.

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