Thai geologist shot dead in second mining-related killing in Bougainville – by Dickson Sorariba (The Guardian – February 25, 2020)

https://www.theguardian.com/

A Thai geologist working at a new gold mine in Bougainville has been shot dead in the second killing at a mining project in the autonomous region of Papua New Guinea in recent months.

Channon Lumpoo, 27, was shot by a high-powered weapon on Monday in the Kokoda constituency of south Bougainville.

Channon was a geologist with Austhai Geophysical Consultants, which is attached to a Philippines-owned company SRMO, and was involved in exploration activities at the time of his death.

Deputy police commissioner and chief of the Bougainville police service, Francis Tokura, said police were conducting investigations around Arawa because they were unable to travel further inland between South and Central Bougainville where the killing took place.

Bougainville police said the remoteness of the location made it impossible to conduct proper investigations. Late last year, a Papua New Guinean geologist was killed in a similar manner.

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