A New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage by rebels in the forests of West Papua has sent a heartbreaking message to his wife and daughter, a year after being taken captive.
Philip Mark Mehrtens, a 38-year-old former Jetstar pilot, appears emaciated and pale in a chilling new hostage video.
Sporting a scraggly beard, the scruffy pilot says, “It’s me,” with a nervous laugh, before adding a few more words of encouragement to his wife Maria and six-year-old son Jacob.
“I’m fine, they’re treating me well… I’m trying to stay positive and I hope you and Jacob are healthy, well and supported,” she says, forcing a smile.
“I love you both very much and miss you very much and I hope to talk to you soon,” he adds.
A video has been released of New Zealand pilot Philip Mark Mehrtens, held for a year by separatist rebels in West Papau.
Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s Papua region previously released a chilling video that appeared to show them pointing guns at the head of Mehrtens, a captive pilot.
Mehrtens appears with his wife Maria and six-year-old son Jacob in a family photograph posted on social media.
Mehrtens said the video was filmed on December 22, 2023, and the rebels waited weeks before sharing it.
The pilot went on to explain that he had met with the ‘komandant’, probably referring to Egianus Kogoya, a commander of the rebel West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-PB) fighting against Indonesia’s annexation of the territory.
Mehrtens said he would also talk to the commander about making a phone call to his family.
In a second video also posted last week, Mehrtens appears to address the New Zealand government and asks for some supplies to ease his time in captivity.
‘Could you help me get one or two ventolin inhalers so I have them available in case I have asthma? And, if possible, could you get me an e-book reader like a Kindle with as many English books as possible?
“That would be greatly appreciated,” he says.
Mehrtens was working for an Indonesian aviation company on February 7 last year when he was kidnapped after landing his single-engine Susi Air plane on a remote airstrip in the mountainous province of Nduga, which is located in the western half of New Guinea. In Indonesia.
The West Papua Liberation Army group, the armed wing of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), seized Mr. Mehrtens before setting fire to his plane on the runway at Paro in the remote Nduga district on the 7th. February (pictured).
Mehrtens was working for an Indonesian aviation company on February 7 last year when he was kidnapped after landing his single-engine Susi Air plane on a remote airstrip in the mountainous province of Nduga, which is located in the western half of New Guinea. In Indonesia.
A day after his capture, the group said in a video that he would “die here” like “the rest of us” if the Indonesian military tried to rescue him.
Rebel separatist spokesman Sebby Sambom wrote on Facebook that Mehrtens will be held hostage during negotiations with Indonesia, but warned that if Jakarta refuses to negotiate or intervenes militarily, the pilot “will be executed.”
Sambom said at the time that the rebels would “never free” Mr Mehrtens unless Jakarta made the Papua region independent from Indonesia.
But the Indonesian government stood firm, stating that Papua “will forever remain a legitimate part” of Indonesia.
Two months ago, separatist rebels threatened to execute Mehrtens if their demands were not met, although he appears to be still alive.
Mehrtens met his wife Maria in Indonesia, before the couple moved to New Zealand and settled in Auckland after the pilot began flying for Jetstar.
The couple then returned to live in Indonesia when he resumed employment at Susi Air, founded in 2004, which operates a fleet of 50 aircraft.
Separatist rebels kidnapped him after they hijacked an Indonesian Susi Airlines single-engine plane shortly after landing on a small runway in February.
Mehrtens was kidnapped shortly after landing in Paro, in the remote Nguda province of West Papua.
He was due to evacuate 15 construction workers from a health center in the district after separatist rebels threatened to kill them.
“Our plan to evacuate the workers angered the rebels, who responded by setting fire to the plane and capturing the pilot,” said Nduga district chief Namia Gwijangge, who was one of the passengers.
“We deeply regret this incident.”
The rebels freed the five passengers because they were indigenous Papuans, rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said at the time.