New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has reportedly been freed from captivity in West Papua, Indonesia. Photo / Dok. Istimewa
New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has reportedly been freed from captivity in West Papua, Indonesia. Photo / Dok. Istimewa
New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been freed from more than one-and-a-half years in captivity in Indonesia’s Papua, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) confirmed.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Mehrtens was now “safe”.
“We are pleased and relieved to confirm that PhilipMehrtens is safe and well and has been able to talk with his family. This news must be an enormous relief for his friends and loved ones,” Peters said.
For the last 19 and a half months a wide range of government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others towards securing Mehrtens’ release.
”The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with staff in both Indonesia and Wellington, has led a sustained whole-of-government effort to secure Philip Mehrtens’ release, and has also been supporting his family.”
An armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army, led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped Mehrtens on February 7, 2023, after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga.
📣 The Foreign Minister is pleased to announce that New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, taken hostage in Papua, Indonesia, is now safe.
“Today we have picked up pilot Phillip who is in good health and we flew him from Nduga to Timika,” Brigadier General Faizal Ramadhani, head of a special unit formed to handle rebels in Papua, said in a statement.
A joint task force of police and military picked up Mehrtens in a village of Nduga district early Saturday, Faizal said.
During a stand-up with journalists, Peters expressed his great relief about the release of Merhtens.
“His family will be absolutely over the moon, I believe.”
He described the negotiations as “quite nerve-wracking”.
“Holding our nerve, not getting too carried away and not doing anything that might imperil our chances,” Peters said.
“There’s always a concern of ours that we may not succeed.”
The Foreign Minister said it was one of the better stories he has had in his career.
West Papua National Liberation Army tried using Mehrtens to broker independence from Indonesia.
On September 18 the group asked the New Zealand government, including the police and army, to escort the pilot and for local and international journalists to be involved in the release process.
Both Foreign Affairs and the minister’s office confirmed they were aware of the proposed plan.
New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens was photographed with his rebel captors in Indonesia's Papua region. Photo / TPNPB
In a statement, they said their focus remained on securing a peaceful resolution and the pilot’s safe release.
“We continue to work closely with all parties to achieve this and will not be discussing the details publicly.”
In February 2023, Mehrtens, a husband and father from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian airline Susi Air when he landed his small Pilatus plane on a remote airstrip in Nduga Regency in the Papua highlands.
Images released by the West Papua National Liberation Army of Free Papua Movement (TPNPB-OPM) earlier this year showed New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who has been held hostage by the group. Photo / Supplied
The area is a highly militarised district with a long history of insurgency in the newly named Highland Papua province.
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