Hikers find WWII skeleton
29/08/2008 14:07 - (SA)
Sydney - Australia's military was on Friday making plans to examine the suspected remains of a World War II airman found dangling from trees in a dense Papua New Guinea jungle, a spokesperson told AFP.
Hikers on the Kokoda Trail, where a bitter World War II battle was fought between allied and Japanese forces, discovered the moss-covered body last week tangled in parachute lines and hanging from trees in thick jungle.
"I couldn't make it out at first. It wasn't until the wind blew that you could really see it is in a harness," said guide David Collins, who was leading a group of Australian hikers.
"There are goggles and it appears to be caught up in cables, so presumably it is an airman," he said.
An Australian Defence Force spokesperson told AFP on Friday that the military was planning an inspection of the remains to determine whether they are those of a World War II flyer and, if so, to establish his nationality.
"We are aware of the reports and we are looking at what can be done to identify the remains and establish whether they are of an Australian and if they date back to the Second World War," a spokesperson said.
"It's too early to speculate on the nationality of the airman or the circumstances of his death. There were allied - Australian and American - and Japanese airmen who would have been flying over the area in the war," he said.
A Defence Department spokesperson told AFP that the remains were found close to sites used by US aircraft during World War II.
"A number of allied aircraft had been reported as missing in the area, in particular B25 Mitchells and a number of Kitty Hawk aircraft," she said.
The jungle in the area where the airman was found is extremely dense and hikers are warned not to stray off the Kokoda Trail as unexploded ordinance remains strewn in the area more than half a century after fighting ceased.
"Defence is still determining arrangements to mount an expedition to the site," the spokesperson added.
Some 600 Australian soldiers died in battle near the extremely rugged Kokoda Trail, which was seen by the allies as a crucial point at which to halt the Japanese military's southern advance through the Pacific towards Australia.
Around 6 000 Japanese troops tried to cross the trail, which sits atop the Owen Stanley Range, in a bid to capture the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby, which was seen as a possible launchpad for an invasion of Australia.
Japanese officials in Port Moresby who have viewed a videotape of the remains were unable to determine the flyer's nationality.
