Traders in Bougainville have been warned to take extra precaution when travelling to places like Rabaul, Kimbe and Lihir to sell betelnut.
This was after three men from The Selau Constituency drifted for a whole month in the Solomon Sea, before being rescued at Woodlark Island in the Milne Bay Province.
Villages along the coast of Bougainville, especially people who have boats and run water taxi services, are the ones that are being used by betelnut traders to transport them.
The shortage of the favourite nut in Rabaul and Kimbe has now caused betelnut chewers and traders to turn their focus towards Bougainville.
A lot of traders travelling by banana boats to Rabaul and Kimbe have now forgotten about their safety at sea.
Vessels out of Bougainville have been overladen with betelnut destined for Rabaul and Kimbe, the commodity would transported by boat and traders go by plane.
Direct flights from Rabaul to Buka have been canceled due to the damaged Tokua runway.
Passengers bound for Rabaul will then transit through Port Moresby. This is expensive but safe.
A village elder and crisis veteran in the Kokoda constituency Robert Ereva said that traders are not taking heed of warnings issued by the disaster coordination centre in Buka.
“The lust for money has prompted these traders to forget the rules and go on their own and then the state will spend money looking for them because of their own arrogance,” Mr Ereva said.
“The government spends good money for building schools or hospitals to look for people who get lost at sea because of their own stupidity is totally unjustified.
“It’s not just betelnut now but general business as well. People travelling to and from Solomon Islands for business purposes need to think safety fist.”
