Mother Rescued In Remote PNG After Premature Triplets Die Before Help Arrives

Scott Waide
RNZ Pacific PNG correspondent

A young mother who
gave birth to triplets in a remote part of Papua New Guinea
was successfully evacuated, but all three of her babies died
before help could reach them.

Manolos Aviation carried
out this morning’s emergency medical evacuation from the
Onga-Waffa in Markham District, bringing the mother into
Morobe Province’s capital, Lae, shortly after 10am before
she was taken to hospital for further treatment.

The
woman had given birth prematurely to triplets at about eight
months into her pregnancy.

Despite the efforts of
health workers at the local health facility, all three
babies died within hours of each other. The clinic had
limited resources and was unable to provide the level of
specialised neonatal care required by the premature
babies.

Manolos Aviation chief executive and pilot
Captain Jurgen Ruh said the outcome could potentially have
been different if the medevac team had received the
emergency call earlier.

“None of the babies survived.
One of the babies died last night and the other two died
this morning at nine o’clock,” Captain Ruh said.

The
tragedy again highlights the difficulties faced by mothers
and newborn babies in remote parts of Papua New Guinea,
where geographical isolation, poor transport links and
limited medical resources can turn complications during
childbirth into life-threatening emergencies.

For
Manolos Aviation, the case also carries echoes of an earlier
evacuation involving another mother of triplets.

In
May 2017, the company evacuated 25-year-old Rose Andy and
her newborn triplets – two boys and a girl – from the remote
village of Sikami in Obura-Wonenara District, Eastern
Highlands Province.

The mother was suffering serious
complications following the birth and was bleeding when the
call for assistance was made.

Captain Ruh and a
medevac nurse flew into the remote community, stabilised the
mother and babies and transported them to Angau General
Hospital in Lae. All three babies survived, and after four
weeks at Angau, the family was cleared to return
home.

Manolos Aviation’s medical evacuation work has
since expanded considerably, with its MAMA Medevac program
providing emergency air transport for patients from some of
the country’s most isolated communities.

One of its
most high-profile recent missions involved conjoined twins
Tom and Sawong, who were born at Braun Memorial Hospital in
Finschhafen in October 2025.

Within two days of their
birth, Manolos Aviation evacuated the twins to Angau
Memorial Hospital before they were eventually transferred to
Australia for highly specialised medical
treatment.

Doctors later carried out a complex
separation operation in Sydney. Tom, who had severe medical
complications, did not survive, but the operation saved
Sawong.

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