A New Zealander commercial pilot has been taken hostage by a group of militants who demand their province’s independence from Indonesia.
Pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens was taken prisoner by the West Papua Liberation Army as he sought to airlift a group of construction workers out of the unstable Papua province earlier this month, according to SBS World News.
Mehrtens, a resident of Christchurch, was seized by a group of rebels as he sought to pick up 15 construction workers in the Nduga district.

Members of the armed group had threatened the workers, who were constructing a healthcare facility in the remote province.
Nduga district chief Namia Gwijangge expressed his regrets rega …