Lae

It also has prevented the heavy equipment being trucked from Lae.

But the highway had been cleared from Yambali to the provincial capital Wabag through to Lae, officials said Tuesday from Enga.

Similar riots also caused damage in Lae, the second-biggest city in the southwestern Pacific country.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that at least 15 people died in Port Moresby and Lae.

The Port Moresby General Hospital confirmed eight deaths in the capital, while another seven people were reported to have died in the city of Lae, PNG's second largest.