TV1 6pm News Headlines (First Segment)

Hostel Tragedy – Dover On The Attack - The PM & Dover - Dover Hui - Gavin Dash Inquiry Arrest - Kylie Jones Name Suppression - Mother, Son Bodies Found - Motorway Gridlock

HOSTEL TRAGEDY: An early morning inferno at a backpackers hostel in Queensland destroyed the wooden building and left carnage in its wake. Police have found the bodies of 19 people in the fire.

DOVER ON THE ATTACK: Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels has gone on the attack over sex allegations against him. Mr. Samuels says he doubts the credibility of the allegations because the woman herself is not making them. The relative who first went public with the allegations, Rodney Tregerthan , says there is no split in the family.

THE PM & DOVER: The Prime Minister appears to be distancing herself from Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels at the centre of the controversy regarding under-age sex allegations. She has refused to speculate on the future of Mr. Samuels and to give her personal opinion on the morality of his sexual relationship with a teenage girl. Mr. Samuels has said he will return to the Maori Affairs portfolio if he is cleared of the allegations.

DOVER HUI: A hui will be held in Mr. Samuel’s home town in Northland to discuss the allegations.

GAVIN DASH INQUIRY ARREST: Police in Wellington have arrested a 26-year-old Wellington man for the murder of a missing law student Gavin Dash.

KYLIE JONES NAME SUPPRESSION: Meanwhile the man accused of murdering Auckland journalist Kylie Jones has had his name suppression lifted.

MOTHER, SON BODIES FOUND: Police have found the two bodies of a mother and son down a steep bank after they failed to return from a tramping trip in the Tararua ranges. Police believe the two died of exposure.

MOTORWAY GRIDLOCK: In Auckland there has been gridlock on the southern motorway out of the city after a truck accident caused long delays. Traffic was backed up around 20 km from the scene of the accident.

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