An effort is being made to free an Australian professor who is being held captive in Papua New Guinea (PNG) along with three local researchers.
Security forces would use "whatever means necessary," including lethal force, according to police chief David Manning, to free the group.
On an unknown date, the team was on a field research trip in the isolated highlands when they were apprehended.
According to local authorities, a ransom has been demanded for their release.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, some of the local guides who were initially kidnapped along with a larger group have since been released.
The professor, an archaeologist from an Australian university, and three PNG university students are the four people still held hostage.
Overnight, the police chief claimed that the abductors were "opportunists" who had "clearly not considered this situation through.".
We're giving the kidnappers a way out, he declared.
"They can free their prisoners and be treated fairly by the legal system, but defying orders and resisting arrest could result in the criminals' deaths. ".
In an effort to reassure the hostage families, PNG Prime Minister James Marape stated on Monday that authorities had been in "running conversations" with the abductors.
He said, "I'm confident, I'm optimistic, and I'm praying that we get... them out.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia has not yet responded.
In the nearby Indonesian province of Papua, separatist fighters earlier this month kidnapped a New Zealand pilot. The group claims that Philip Mehrtens will be detained until the demands for Papua's independence are satisfied.
