After release from West Papua rebels: Kiwi pilot Phillip Mehrtens’ first hours of freedom

• Phillip Mehrtens, 38, has been released after 19 months spent in captivity after being kidnapped by rebels in Indonesia’s West Papua region.
• Indonesian authorities confirmed Mehrtens is in good health and has spoken with his family.
• His release followed intense negotiations, with rebels initially demanding recognition of Papuan independence in exchange for his freedom.

New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been reunited with some of his family in Jakarta, Indonesia, after spending more than a year and a half in captivity.

Mehrtens, 38, was working for Indonesian airline Susi Air when he was snatched by rebels from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) insurgent group at Papua’s Nduga airport on February 7 last year.

A joint task force of police and military forces collected Mehrtens in a village in Nduga district on Saturday, before he was given medical and psychological checks and flown to the Papuan city of Timika, said the unit’s head Faizal Ramadhani.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters shared some details of Mehrtens’ first hours of freedom.

“Yesterday evening the Indonesian authorities flew Mr Mehrtens to Halim Airforce base in Jakarta, where he was met off the plane by New Zealand’s Ambassador to Indonesia Kevin Burnett,” Peters said in a statement.

“Mr Mehrtens had a private reunion with his immediate family last night. After 600 days he also got to spend his first night sleeping in a bed.

“He has this morning been checked by an Australian Embassy doctor and is in remarkably good shape given his long and arduous ordeal,” he said.

Peters thanked Indonesian authorities in Timika for looking after Mehrtens, saying they allowed him to call his family and “did all they could to ensure his comfort with food and water, a shower and a change of clothes”.

Peters said that Mehrtens would “need time and space to adjust to life after captivity” and appealed for people to respect his and his family’s privacy.

Peters said the release “involved a wide range of people and organisations, and the New Zealand Government wishes to acknowledge the Papuan community figures, who with the help of the Indonesian Government, assisted in ensuring Phillip’s safe release”.

Mehrtens was providing vital air links and supplies to remote communities at the time of his abduction.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.