Aussie war dead remains reportedly sold in PNG

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22538291-2,00.html

From correspondents in Port Moresby

OFFICIALS are investigating claims that skeletal remains of World War II soldiers, possibly including Australians, are being sold as souvenirs by villagers in Papua New Guinea.

Villagers living on wartime battlefields such as Sanananda and Buna in PNG's Oro Province were engaged in selling the remains, PNG's Post-Courier newspaper reported today.

Sanananda villagers had confirmed that a complete human skeleton was sold last month for $US20,000 ($22,500), while plastic bags containing soldiers' bones were being sold for up to 70 kina ($30), the report said.

Villagers said the buyers were from overseas, it said.

Far more Japanese soldiers died in PNG than Australian and other troops, and remains from unmarked graves are most likely to be Japanese.

Sanananda was the scene of fierce fighting and many Japanese are buried in mass graves there.

FULL story at link.

[malaise]

1. So what?

Europeans have been robbing Egyptian graves for centuries and Inca graves as well.