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NBC News Team Freed After Being Held Captive in Syria

Dec 18, 2012  •  Post A Comment

An NBC News team was freed in Syria after being held prisoner for five days by unidentified captors, reports NBC News.

NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel, 39, and members of his production team were freed after a firefight at a checkpoint, the story says. The team was unharmed and has safely left the country.

It’s not believed that the captors were loyal to the Assad regime, the piece adds.

Engel disappeared last Thursday after he and his team crossed into northwest Syria from Turkey. During the time the team was missing, NBC had no contact with the captors and received no request for ransom, according to the article.

The members of the team were blindfolded, bound and tossed into the back of a truck, but weren’t otherwise harmed during their captivity.

While being moved to a new location, their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by a Syrian rebel group, leading to the firefight Monday evening. Two of their captors were killed, while others escaped, according to the article.

NBC News said it “expressed its gratitude to those who worked to gather information and secure the release of our colleagues.”

Engel has served as chief foreign correspondent for NBC News since April 2008, and joined the network in 2003.

One Comment

  1. I respect and appreciate the hazards Richard Engel goes through to give us news behind enemy lines. He is a braver man than I.
    I recently cancelled out of filming a movie in Jordan because of the refugee threat spilling out of Syria.
    Keith Warn Ibex Productions

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