Indonesian security forces search for NZ pilot taken hostage

Police guarding a hospital where workers threatened by Papuan rebels were brought for medical examinations in Mimika, Papua province, Indonesia. - AP

JAYAPURA (AP): Indonesian security forces searched on Wednesday for a pilot from New Zealand who was taken hostage by separatist rebels in restive Papua province.

The joint team of soldiers and police searching for the pilot, Philip Mark Mehrtens, also managed on Wednesday to rescue 15 construction workers who had been building a health center in Paro village in remote Nduga district after separatist rebels threatened to kill them, regional military commander Brig. Gen. J.O. Sembiring said.