Four women were found frightened and two injured in a fake hostage situation that shut down part of a Papua New Guinea resort town and forced a cruise line to recall passengers.
Police surrounded and stormed into a building in the popular PNG tourist area of Alotau after receiving calls of an armed robbery at an airline office, ABC News reported.
Officers threw tear gas into the office before marching in where they believed a hostage-taker was holding several airline employees.
However, once they entered the office they were surprised to find that there were no gunmen, only four frightened staff who had locked themselves inside.
“They [the four women] received some reports there were some criminals that could come in so they locked themselves inside the office.”
Allen Kundi, Southern Region Commander
Police searched neighbouring buildings for any threats but failed to detect any, instead “they found there was no presence of any armed criminals in the building so it was all a hoax”.
One woman was treated for shock and another is believed to have received tear gas injuries.
P&O Cruises was also notified of the situation and had recalled Pacific Aria passengers from their onshore tours.
