A helicopter pilot from New Zealand was killed by a pro-independence group in Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province.
According to Indonesian police, Glen Malcolm Conning, 50, was killed by the group Free Papua Organisation (OPM), local name: Organisasi Papua Merdeka.
Conning, an experienced pilot who worked for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was transporting four passengers, two health workers, a baby and a child, from Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM) in Central Papua to Alama district on August 5, 2024.
Police said that upon landing in Alama, OPM intercepted the helicopter by using firearms, removed the pilot and passengers from the aircraft, and gathered them in the field.
“After that, OPM immediately killed the pilot and his body was taken to the helicopter and then burned together with the helicopter,” a police spokesperson said, quoted by Indonesian media outlet Antara News.
The four helicopter passengers were not harmed or killed. Police said that along with the military, it is still pursuing the armed group responsible for Conning’s murder.
The tragic news comes 18 months after another New Zealand pilot, Philip Mehrtens, was abducted by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) when his commercial charter plane carrying five passengers was attacked after it landed at Paro Airfield in the remote region of Nduga. Mehrtens still remains in captivity.
Since 1969, there has been ongoing conflict in Western New Guinea between Indonesia and the Free Papua Movement. Abuses and injustices against indigenous Papuans are regularly reported by the United Nations.
