Man arrested for PNG arrow attack

Matthew Scheurich, 28, was attacked and injured by arrows in Papua New Guinea in June. Photo / supplied

A teenage tribesman has been arrested over an arrow attack on a New Zealand man in a remote part of PNG.

Matt Scheurich, 28, was seriously wounded when he was hit with arrows in the stomach and chest while he and his girlfriend were at a river in the isolated North Fly District on June 29.

Papua New Guinea police inspector Wesley Tomutagweda said today that 19-year-old Francis Neobia was arrested earlier this month and charged with attempted murder, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Scheurich pulled two arrows out of his body as he and his 29-year-old girlfriend fled for their lives.

He was allegedly attacked with the arrows and bashed with a rock after he stepped in to protect his French girlfriend from an tribesman who took a liking to her.

Mr Scheurich's girlfriend was allegedly sexually assaulted, bitten and scratched. She set off the couple's emergency locator beacon to raise the alarm.

Medical staff discovered one arrow had passed through his ribs, under his liver, through the wall of his stomach and stopped just short of his aorta. The other had split an artery as it travelled into his chest.

Mr Scheurich was flown to Cairns Base Hospital and spent a week there before returning to Melbourne where he is based.