A New Zealand pilot has been free of captivity after being kidnapped early final yr upon touchdown at a distant Indonesian airport, the place separatist rebels set his small airplane on fireplace.
Phillip Mehrtens, a 38-year-old working for Indonesian aviation firm Susi Air on the time of his abduction in Papua on Feb. 7, 2023, advised reporters on Saturday, “Immediately I lastly acquired out. … I’m so glad to be again dwelling with my household quickly.”
“Thanks to everybody who helped me get out safely and wholesome,” Mehrtens added throughout a information convention within the mining city of Timika, which is positioned west of the distant airstrip in Paro the place he had been taken captive.
Tv information earlier confirmed an emaciated, long-haired Mehrtens, carrying a dark-green shirt and black shorts, sitting in a room surrounded by law enforcement officials and native officers, in keeping with The Related Press. He sobbed whereas speaking to his household through video and an officer tried to calm him down by patting his again. He was later flown to Jakarta to be reunited together with his household.
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New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, left, who was held hostage for greater than a yr in Indonesia’s restive Papua area, sits with law enforcement officials after his launch in Timika, on Saturday, Sept. 21. (Satgas Damai Cartenz through AP)
“I’m grateful Phillip Mehrtens has been launched after greater than 19 months in captivity,” New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X. “My appreciation to all these in Indonesia and New Zealand who’ve supported this constructive final result for Phillip and his household.”
The AP experiences that rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence because the safety scenario deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost area of Papua, a former Dutch colony within the western a part of New Guinea that’s ethnically and culturally distinct from a lot of Indonesia.
Papua was included into Indonesia in 1969 beneath a United Nations-sponsored poll that was broadly seen as a sham, the information company provides. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered. The battle spiked up to now yr, with dozens of rebels, safety forces and civilians killed.
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New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens talks to the media following his launch on Saturday. (AP/Endy Langobelen)
On the time of his abduction, insurgent spokesperson Sebby Sambom was quoted as saying that “we’ll by no means launch the pilot we’re holding hostage except Indonesia acknowledges and frees Papua from Indonesian colonialism.”
Nonetheless, on Tuesday, leaders of the West Papua Liberation Military, the armed wing of the Free Papua Motion, issued a proposal for releasing Mehrtens that outlined phrases together with information media involvement in his launch, in keeping with the AP.
Indonesian police spokesperson Bayu Suseno stated Saturday that Mehrtens’ launch was the results of arduous work from a small process power group that had been speaking with the separatists by way of an area church and group leaders in addition to youth figures.
New Zealand Overseas Minister Winston Peters additionally stated that a variety of presidency businesses had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to safe the discharge of Mehrtens for the previous 19 1/2 months. Officers have been additionally supporting Mehrtens’ household, Peters stated.
New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who was held hostage for greater than a yr, sits after his launch on Saturday, Sept. 21. (Satgas Damai Cartenz through AP)
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“This was by way of a really lengthy negotiation course of and our persistence to not do it repressively,” added Indonesia President Joko Widodo.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
