American Marconi Wireless News - Hostage returns to Australia after kidnapping by armed PNG gang

Professor Bryce Barker and two Papua New Guinean researchers were freed on Sunday after a tense week of negotiations between PNG police and a gang of armed kidnappers.

Barker, a New Zealand citizen who works for Australia's University of Southern Queensland, spent the night receiving treatment in Port Moresby.

The archaeologist flew home Monday evening on a charter flight that stopped in Cairns before landing in Toowoomba, where the university is based, tracking by the Flightradar website showed.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said Sunday the trio appeared physically unharmed but were "obviously traumatised" after the "random opportunist crime".

A fourth hostage who had also been working on the project had been released earlier.

The group were captured while tracing patterns of ancient human migration through the densely forested Mount Bosavi region, about 570 kilometres (360 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby.

The kidnappers initially demanded a ransom of US$1 million -- an enormous sum in one of the Pacific's poorest nations -- before settling for a smaller, undisclosed amount.

Marape said freeing the hostages was just the first stage of the police operation and that officers "will not rest" until they hunted down and arrested the gang.

Barker's Australian colleagues were relieved by the release of the "much-loved" and "highly-regarded" professor, University of Southern Queensland vice-chancellor Geraldine Mackenzie said.

The archaeologist had many years of experience working in the Pacific nation and was on a research trip when he was seized, Mackenzie added.

PNG's highlands are a sprawling expanse of jungle-cloaked hills where the central government and security forces have little sway.

The regions have seen an increase in tribal warfare and modern weapons in recent years.

P.Santos--AMWN