Images surface of former Jetstar pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens held hostage by West Papua rebels

Images have emerged of a Kiwi pilot being hostage by a rebel group in West Papua as the group issues a dire threat.

A rebel group has released images of a former Jetstar pilot abducted after landing a light aircraft in a remote area of West Papua.
Captain Philip Mehrtens had taken off on the Susi Air flight from Mozes Kilangin airport in Timika, on New Guinea’s south coast on February 7.

The light aircraft was carrying five passengers bound for Nduga in the newly-formed Highland Papua province but instead landed at a remote airfield in West Papua province, on the island of New Guinea, later that day.

A separatist group issued a statement declaring it would hold the New Zealander captive until the government in Jakarta recognised the independence of West Papua.

Christchurch man Phillip Mark Mehrtens appears to be wearing a ‘Papua Independence’ T-shirt in the photos released by his captors. Picture: West Papua Liberation Army

The West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and warned it would kill the pilot “unless the Unitary Republic of Indonesia recognises and releases us from the colonial state of Indo­nesia (independent Papua)”.

In a series of videos, released to The Associated Press, a man understood to be Mehrtens is surrounded by rebels holding rifles, spears, and bows and arrows.

“Indonesia must recognise Papua is independent,” he says in one, seemingly under duress.

Video from the separatist Free Papua Movement appears to show kidnapped New Zealand pilot Philip Mark Mehrtens. Picture: West Papua Liberation Army

“I took him hostage for Papua independence, not for food or drinks,” Rebel leader Egianus Kogoya says in another one of the videos.

“He will be safe with me as long as Indonesia does not use its arms, either from the air or on the ground.”

Indonesian officials are making efforts to secure the Kiwi pilot’s release.

The region has seen an increase in violence in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces, and civilians killed.

West Papuan National Liberation Army spokesman Sebby Sambom.

Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the TPNPB armed wing, said in a statement last week to The Australian that the group had released all five passengers on board the flight but was holding the pilot and would kill him if its demands were not met.”

“We want to convey that we have taken this pilot hostage and brought it to the TPNPB headquarters which is far from the airfield area,” the statement read.

“The US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand has supported the Indonesian government, trained the Indonesian National Police, supplied weapons to kill us West Papuans from 1963 to today. They must be held accountable.”

An image reportedly of the wreckage of the plane in West Papua. Picture: Twitter/PARTAISOCMED

Papua police spokesman Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo confirmed the kidnapping of the New Zealand national.

A joint military and police investigation has been launched into the hostage taking and to reports that the plane had been torched on landing.

“The team will also investigate whether the accident caused the burning of the Susi Air Pilatus Porter plane or whether it … was set on fire by certain parties,” Senior Commissioner Prabowo said.

Originally published as Images surface of former Jetstar pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens held hostage by West Papua rebels