AMA CEO: Repatriation of Pilot Nicholas' Body Facilitated by US Embassy

Jayapura (ANTARA) - PT Associated Mission Aviation (AMA) CEO Bob Kayadu has stated that the repatriation of the body of pilot Nicholas F. Goselin, who was killed in a shooting by an armed criminal group (KKB) in Balinggama, Yahukimo, is being facilitated by the United States Embassy in Jakarta. “We have flown pilot Nicholas’s body to Jakarta using a GIA flight, and the US Embassy is now handling the arrangements,” Kayadu told ANTARA in Sentani on Saturday. He noted that Goselin had been with AMA for three years and was one of 16 pilots employed by the company. AMA currently operates eight Pilatus Porter and Caravan aircraft, though one unit was rendered inoperable after being set ablaze by the KKB shortly after landing at the Balinggama airstrip in Yahukimo Regency on Thursday (2/7). “AMA now has seven aircraft and 15 pilots, including several foreign nationals,” Kayadu added. He emphasised that this was the first such attack on the airline in its 67 years of service in Papua. Kayadu stressed that AMA’s fleet exclusively serves communities in the interior of Papua and has never transported TNI, Polri, or KKB personnel. “AMA only provides services to the community by flying them to various areas that can only be reached by small-bodied aircraft,” he said.