New Zealand helicopter pilot killed in Papua

A helicopter pilot from New Zealand has been killed in the Indonesian province of Papua, police have said.

Glen Malcolm Conning, 50, was killed by a pro-independence group known as Free Papua Organisation (OPM), according to police.

However, OPM spokesman Sebby Sambom told the BBC that he had not been able to verify the Indonesian authorities’ claim.

It comes nearly a year and a half after the abduction of another pilot from New Zealand, Phillip Mehrtens, who remains in captivity.

Authorities say the group responsible for Mr Conning’s death is the same that is holding Mr Mehrtens.

Mr Conning was killed when rebels rounded up those on board the helicopter, including four passengers, after they landed in an isolated area in the Central Papua province, police said in a statement. The passengers are reported to be safe.

The spokesperson for the police special operation in Papua, Bayu Suseno, claimed the pilot’s body was taken to the helicopter and then burned along with the aircraft in Alama District, which can only by accessed by helicopter.

Mr Conning was shuttling passengers for a private company.

However, OPM spokesman Mr Sambom told the BBC that despite being unable to verify the claims, “if it was true, then the pilot is a spy because we have declared that the area is a war zone”.

In February 2023, separatist fighters in Indonesia’s Papua region took another New Zealand pilot hostage. Phillip Mehrtens, 37, was captured shortly after landing his plane in the remote mountainous area of Nduga to drop off passengers.

Since then, Mr Mehrtens has been held captive by West Papua National Liberation Army fighters (TPNPB) – the armed wing of the OPM – who also attacked a number of Indonesian troops sent to rescue him, killing at least one.

These hostile acts come in the context of a long-running, often brutally violent conflict between the Indonesian government and West Papua’s indigenous people.

Papuan rebels have been seeking independence from Indonesia for decades, and have previously issued threats and attacked aircraft which they believe are carrying personnel and supplies for Jakarta, the country’s capital.

The region is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua, and is separate from independent Papua New Guinea.

Previously a Dutch colony, West Papua declared independence in 1961. However, Indonesia took over two years later and was formally given control in a UN-supervised vote in 1969.

The UN vote is widely considered illegitimate as only about 1,000 Papuans took part in it. A pro-independence movement began shortly afterwards, which continues to this day.