Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, is secure and sound after just about every week in captivity in Syria, the network mentioned in a remark Dec. 18.
"After being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by an unknown group, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew members have been freed unharmed. We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country," NBC introduced early Tuesday morning.
Engel, 39, and four individuals of his workforce have been taken prisoner by a gaggle of about 15 gunmen after crossing into the country from Turkey on Thursday, Dec. 13. From that time on, the network had no touch with them. According to NBC, they had been tossed into the back of a truck prior to being transported to an unknown location, the place they were blindfolded, bound, and subjected to mock executions.
"We weren't physically beaten or tortured," Engel stated from Turkey right through a are living look at the Today show. "It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed…They made us choose which one of us would be shot first, and when we refused there were mock shootings. They pretended to shoot Ghazi [Balkiz, an NBC producer] several times."
"I made good with my Maker. I made good with myself. I was prepared to die, many times," cameraman John Kooistra added of the harrowing experience.
Thank You!
You have effectively subscribed.
The community stated there was "no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no request for ransom during the time the crew was missing." However, Engel reported that the kidnappers planned to make use of him and his fellow prisoners to win the liberty of other folks being held by Syrian rebels.
"They captured us in order to carry out this exchange," he stated at the Today display.
On Monday, Dec. 17, the kidnappers tried to move the prisoners to a new location; en direction, they passed a checkpoint manned by means of the Syrian rise up team Ahrar al-Sham brigade. During an resulting firefight, two of the captors had been killed and a number of other others escaped. The NBC News crew was once unhurt in the incident and released shortly after.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tr%2FMmp6aspmjsm%2BvzqZmnJ2cmq%2BztdOyZKedp6h8r7HWrGaroZOdrrOwjJ6loJ2cYrujr4ynnLCrXZi8s77ErKeoppSau7V50Z6jnpmjmrFurcWtnKtlm56xr63PqaCnn12eu26%2F2KugmmViZX5zfZdqaWg%3D