Freed hostage details last days in captivity<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Five Indonesian and six European scientists held
\nhostage by separatist rebels walked through the Irian Jaya jungle
\nfor five consecutive days with their abductors to avoid military
\npursuit, before nine of them regained their freedom on May 15,
\none of the freed Indonesian hostages said.<\/p>\n
Jualita Tanasale appeared yesterday at a media conference to
\nrecount the last seven days of their four-month ordeal and how
\nshe and eight other hostages witnessed two Indonesian colleagues
\nhacked to death by the rebels on the last day.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held by the Biological Science Club, which
\norganized the scientific expedition to the Lorentz Natural
\nReserve in Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Adinda Saraswati, another surviving hostage, could not make it
\nto the conference as she was still under medical treatment. The
\nother Indonesian hostage is Markus Warip. The four Britons and
\ntwo Dutch citizens have all returned to their home countries.<\/p>\n
The two hostages killed were Navy Panekenan and Yosias Matheis
\nLasamahu.<\/p>\n
In a prepared statement issued by the Biological Science Club,
\nJualita said the trek through the jungle began on May 9,
\nfollowing the latest attempt by the International Committee for
\nthe Red Cross (ICRC) to secure the hostages' peaceful release
\nfailed, when the rebel leader, Kelly Kwalik, reneged on his
\npromise.<\/p>\n
She said that on May 8, they were all gathered in a church in
\nGeselama village for a farewell ceremony. The ICRC team had come
\nwith everything asked for by the rebels, including pigs and
\nfoodstuff, as well as some donations from the local people.<\/p>\n
But at the last minute, Kelly Kwalik refused to free the
\nhostages, saying he wanted to talk to his troops first. Kelly
\nasked the ICRC team to return the next day.<\/p>\n
On the morning of May 9, the ICRC team returned, but Kelly not
\nonly refused to release the hostages, his troopers also kicked
\nthe ICRC team out of the location.<\/p>\n
"From then on, we lost all hope. We could only envision a long
\nand tiring walk ahead of us for the umpteenth time. After midday,
\nwe were forced to leave the location escorted by the rebels,
\nwhich were commanded by Silas," the statement read.<\/p>\n
The hostages then walked every day from May 9 to May 14,
\nstopping only at night, when it became dark.<\/p>\n
During this walk, they heard distant shots fired but they were
\nforced to continue walking.<\/p>\n
"It appeared that on May 14, the Armed Forces (ABRI) knew the
\nwhereabouts of the hostages and the rebels," it read.<\/p>\n
On the morning of May 15, before the walk continued, "we saw a
\ntiny plane, which seemed like a toy, which was possibly used by
\nABRI to detect the hostages and rebels. All through the day, we
\nkept hearing the roar of a helicopter above us."<\/p>\n
At this point the hostages reached a very deep ravine.<\/p>\n
"We had to descend to reach the stream at the bottom. Most of
\nthe rebels were in front, the British hostages followed, then the
\nIndonesians, then some more rebels, and our fellow Dutch hostages
\nwere the last.<\/p>\n
Before they reached the bottom, the squad's commander ordered
\neveryone to climb the hill again. The line changed: the Britons
\nwere in front and followed by the Indonesians. The Dutch couple
\nrefused to climb up again.<\/p>\n
"And then something really tragic happened. We never expected
\nit. One of the rebels swung an axe at our colleague Navy, who did
\nnot put up a fight at all. This incident was witnessed by all the
\nother hostages.<\/p>\n
"We panicked. The Indonesian hostages felt that the rebels
\nwere all eying us as if they wanted to kill us all. So we all
\nscrambled to save our lives. Marcus became the next target of the
\nrebels and he simply jumped into the deep ravine. Then the rebels
\nstarted heading towards Theis (Yosias). Unfortunately for him,
\nthey caught him. The others ran towards the stream down below
\nwith all the remaining strength they had.<\/p>\n
"It turned out that the ABRI troops had been in pursuit all
\nthis time and were not far from our location. They were just
\nacross the stream. The soldiers gathered us all into a group to
\nprotect us from the rebels, who were still chasing us.<\/p>\n
"Since it was already getting dark, the soldiers postponed the
\nsearch for the two missing Indonesian hostages. The following
\nmorning, May 16, the soldiers found both men had died in very
\ntragic circumstances. They had both died of wounds received from
\nan axe and machete," the statement said.<\/p>\n
Jualita also stressed that a wound on Navy's forehead, which
\nwas apparent when he was buried, was from crashing into a tree
\ntrunk when he fell, and did not come from a stray military
\nbullet. "He was never shot at," she said. (16\/emb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/freed-hostage-details-last-days-in-captivity-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}