According to police, a wave of intercommunal violence on the isolated Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea has resulted in the deaths of thirty people and the injuries of dozens more.
Provincial Police Commander Peter Barkie told AFP that the long-running disagreement between two neighbourhood football teams on the thinly policed Kiriwina Island first broke out earlier this year following the nation's general election.
Police, "even church elders could not contain the violence and we reported 30 deaths and countless more injured" when citizens of three villages assaulted a government building on Monday.
Following the recent "destruction of food gardens," Barkie claimed that things "went out of hand."
Additional forces are now being sent from the mainland.
The Trobriand Islands are a group of low-lying atolls in the South Pacific, known for their ornate coral gardens that produce bananas, yams and taro.
In recent years, they have struggled with a growing population and changing climate, which has made harvests more difficult.