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 staff within the Nduga space, present process well being check-ups and a psychological examination in Timika regency, the Indonesian police stated in a press release.
A spokesman for the Indonesian police, Bayu Suseno, stated Mehrtens will probably be flown to Jakarta in an air drive airplane and is estimated to reach on the Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in east Jakarta at round 8 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Indonesia’s Metro TV earlier confirmed Mehrtens talking tearfully to his household by cellphone. He then made an 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 lots of weight, stated Bambang Trisnohadi, a lieutenant common with the Indonesian army, on the press convention.
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 optimistic final result for Phillip and his household,” Luxon stated.
“His household will probably be completely over the moon,” stated New Zealand International Minister Winston Peters stated in a press convention in Auckland.
A spread of New Zealand authorities companies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others in direction of securing Mehrtens’ launch, Peters stated earlier in a press release.
“Via the lengthy means 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.
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.