Papua New Guinea hostages released, including Australian professor and 2 local researchers

An Australian archaeologist and two Papua New Guinean researchers were released on February 26, 2023, after being held for a week by 20 armed men in a remote area of the Pacific island nation. Bryce Barker, a professor at Australia’s University of Southern Queensland, was taken hostage alongside fellow members of his research team on February 19 in the remote village of Fogomaiyu, where they were investigating whether Papua New Guinea was linked to the first human migration to Australia tens of thousands of years ago.