New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens was photographed with his rebel captors in Indonesia's Papua region. Photo: Supplied/TPNPB
This week on Wednesday marks one year since New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens was taken hostage in West Papua.
Mehrtens from Christchurch was working for Indonesian airline Susi Air, when he landed his small Pilatus plane on a remote Paro airstrip in Nduga, Highland Papua.
He was accosted by rebels from the West Papua National Liberation Army who claimed he had entered a no-fly-zone.
They torched his aircraft on the runway and took him in as a hostage.
RNZ Pacific's Caleb Fotheringham reports.
