New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who has been freed more than 1-1/2 years after being held hostage by a pro-independence group, is pictured, in Timika, Central Papua province, Indonesia, September 21, 2024. Indonesia's Police/Handout via REUTERS
JAKARTA (Reuters) -New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens has been freed more than 19 months after being kidnapped by armed separatists in Indonesia's Papua, authorities said on Saturday.
Mehrtens was freed and picked up by a joint team in the Nduga area, undergoing health check-ups and a psychological examination in Timika regency, the Indonesian police said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Indonesian police, Bayu Suseno, said Mehrtens will be flown to Jakarta in an air force plane and is estimated to arrive at the Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in east Jakarta at around 8 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Indonesia's Metro TV earlier showed Mehrtens speaking tearfully to his family by phone. He then made an appearance at a press conference and seemed to be in good spirits.
Mehrtens did not appear to suffer any post-traumatic stress although he had lost a lot of weight, said Bambang Trisnohadi, a lieutenant general with the Indonesian military, at the press conference.
A faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped Mehrtens on Feb. 7, 2023, after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on social media platform X he was grateful Mehrtens had been released.
"My appreciation to all those in Indonesia and New Zealand who have supported this positive outcome for Phillip and his family," Luxon said.
"His family will be absolutely over the moon," said New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a press conference in Auckland.
A range of New Zealand government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others towards securing Mehrtens' release, Peters said earlier in a statement.
"Through the long process of negotiation, with patience not to do it repressively, our priority has been the safety of the pilot," Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in televised remarks.
In August, another New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, was killed by separatist rebels in Papua after landing his helicopter in a remote area, authorities said at the time.
(Reporting by Dewi Kurniawati, with additional reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard and Tom Hogue)
