The body of a New Zealand helicopter pilot shot dead by rebels in eastern Indonesia’s restive Papua region has been retrieved, the joint task force of police and soldiers leading the search said yesterday.
Glen Malcolm Conning, 50, a pilot for PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was killed on Monday after landing in Papua with four Indonesian health workers and two children, all of whom survived.
Police on Monday said that the rebels released the survivors because they were Indonesians.
Photo: AFP
The Cartenz Peace Taskforce, assembled to deal with Papua separatists, retrieved the pilot’s body from the remote area of Alama and transported it to Timika city, it said in a statement.
“The body of the pilot has been evacuated from the Alama district to Timika and arrived at 12:50 pm local time. The body is currently at the Mimika General Hospital for an autopsy,” Cartenz spokesman Bayu Suseno said.
Mimika regency police head I Komang Budiartha told reporters on Monday that three helicopters had been dispatched for the search effort.
Photo: AP / Indonesian Police
Suseno said the victim’s body was found in the cockpit. The rebels had set fire to the helicopter, but the flames had not reached the pilot, he said.
A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said earlier yesterday that it was aware of reports of the pilot’s death and said its embassy in Jakarta was seeking further information from authorities.
The killing comes less than two years after another New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, was abducted by rebels from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). He remains in captivity.
TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom did not respond to an AFP request for comment yesterday.
The insurgent group has demanded that Indonesia recognize Papuan independence in return for Mehrten’s release.
Papua, a former Dutch colony, declared independence in 1961, but neighboring Indonesia took control two years later, promising a referendum. A thousand Papuans voted in 1969 to integrate into Indonesia in a UN-backed poll. Papuan independence activists regularly criticize the vote and call for fresh polls, but Jakarta says its sovereignty over Papua is supported by the UN.
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