Student stabs teachers to death in PNG

PORT MORESBY - Two teachers were stabbed to death in front of terrified children and another was seriously injured when a student ran amok with a knife at a school in the Papua New Guinea city of Lae.

Police arrested a male student whom they allege had been drinking or taking drugs when he went into Coronation International College yesterday afternoon and attacked the teachers.

One male teacher was stabbed in the chest and a male colleague who came to his aid was stabbed in the head and back, police said.

They both died shortly afterwards at the nearby Tusa Private Hospital.

A female auxiliary staff member was also stabbed and was reported to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital today.

A security guard who was chased by the knife-wielding youth escaped being stabbed after taking cover behind a wall, school officials told reporters.

The attacks occurred in front of frightened and screaming students at the popular school in PNG's second largest city.

Students who tried to step in during the attacks were also chased off while others fled in panic or locked themselves in classrooms.

School principal Les Roari told PNG's National newspaper the student was known as "a very good person" but "just went crazy" and stabbed the three teachers.

Other teachers said he was known to be a recluse.

Roari said the names of the two dead teachers could not be released until relatives had been informed but they had lost their lives "passionately doing what they loved to do".

The school would remain open but it was up to parents whether their children attended in the wake of the killings, he said.

The assailant was reportedly a TAFE computer student from the island of Manus, where his father is a high school principal.

Police said they would lay charges against the youth after completing their investigations.

- AAP