New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens released by Indonesian rebels after being abducted more than 19 months ago

A New Zealand pilot has been freed from captivity after being abducted early last year upon landing at a remote Indonesian airport, where separatist rebels set his small plane on fire.  

Phillip Mehrtens, a 38-year-old working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air at the time of his abduction in Papua on Feb. 7, 2023, told reporters on Saturday, "Today I finally got out. … I am so happy to be back home with my family soon." 

"Thank you to everyone who helped me get out safely and healthy," Mehrtens added during a news conference in the mining town of Timika, which is located west of the remote airstrip in Paro where he had been taken captive. 

Television news earlier showed an emaciated, long-haired Mehrtens, wearing a dark-green shirt and black shorts, sitting in a room surrounded by police officers and local officials, according to The Associated Press. He sobbed while talking to his family via video and an officer tried to calm him down by patting his back. He was later flown to Jakarta to be reunited with his family. 

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"I’m grateful Phillip Mehrtens has been released after more than 19 months in captivity," New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X. "My appreciation to all those in Indonesia and New Zealand who have supported this positive outcome for Phillip and his family." 

The AP reports that rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence as the security situation deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. 

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham, the news agency adds. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered. The conflict spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed. 

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At the time of his abduction, rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom was quoted as saying that "we will never release the pilot we are holding hostage unless Indonesia recognizes and frees Papua from Indonesian colonialism." 

However, on Tuesday, leaders of the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, issued a proposal for freeing Mehrtens that outlined terms including news media involvement in his release, according to the AP. 

Indonesian police spokesperson Bayu Suseno said Saturday that Mehrtens’ release was the result of hard work from a small task force team that had been communicating with the separatists through a local church and community leaders as well as youth figures. 

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters also said that a wide range of government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release of Mehrtens for the past 19 1/2 months. Officials were also supporting Mehrtens’ family, Peters said. 

"This was through a very long negotiation process and our patience not to do it repressively," added Indonesia President Joko Widodo. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.