JAKARTA (Reuters) -New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been freed greater than 19 months after being kidnapped by armed separatists in Indonesia’s Papua, authorities stated on Saturday.
Mehrtens was freed and picked up by a joint group within the Nduga space and was present process well being check-ups and a psychological examination in Timika regency, the Indonesian police stated in an announcement.
Indonesia’s Metro TV confirmed him tearfully talking to his household by cellphone. Mehrtens then made a fast look at a press convention and gave the impression to be in good spirits.
Mehrtens didn’t seem to undergo any post-traumatic stress though he had misplaced a number of weight, and he ought to be capable of fly out of Papua quickly, stated Bambang Trisnohadi, a lieutenant normal with the Indonesian navy.
A faction of the West Papua Nationwide Liberation Military (TPNPB), led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped Mehrtens on Feb. 7, 2023, after he landed a small business airplane within the distant, mountainous space of Nduga.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon stated on social media platform X he was grateful Mehrtens had been launched.
“My appreciation to all these in Indonesia and New Zealand who’ve supported this constructive consequence for Phillip and his household,” Luxon stated.
New Zealand International Minister Winston Peters stated in a press convention in Auckland that Mehrtens would depart Timika and go to Jakarta “very very quickly” to reunite along with his household.
“His household will likely be completely over the moon, I imagine,” Peters stated.
A variety of New Zealand authorities companies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others in direction of securing Mehrtens’ launch, Peters stated earlier in an announcement.
“By the lengthy strategy of negotiation, with persistence to not do it repressively, our precedence has been the protection of the pilot,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo stated in televised remarks.
The Indonesian police stated they’d maintain a press convention in a while Saturday.
In August, one other New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, was killed by separatist rebels in Papua after touchdown his helicopter in a distant space, authorities stated on the time.
