NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his crew were freed from captivity in Syria after a checkpoint firefight on Monday, NBC News announced on Tuesday. The network had instilled a media blackout surrounding Engel's disappearance, despite the news being reported in several international news outlets.
"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," the network said in a statement. "We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country."
During a live appearance on the TODAY show from Turkey, Engel described his capture from what he believed to be rebel-controlled territory. Engel said that he and his crew were traveling with Syrian rebel escorts when a group of gunmen "jumped out the trees and bushes" and captured them. He added that the gunmen executed one of the rebels "on the spot" and then led them to several safe houses and interrogation places.
"We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed," the award winning journalist said. He added, "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."
Engel, 39, also described their escape during a firefight between their captors and rebels at a rebel checkpoint. He said the two of their captors were killed in the firefight while they escaped from the back of a minivan late Monday night.
"It was a traumatic experience," Engel said. "We're happy to be here. We're in good health. We're okay."
When asked who he believed were his captors, Engel said that he had a "very good idea" who they were, pointing to the "shabiha" militia, which is loyal to the Syrian regime led by President Bashar al-Assad. "They were talking openly about their loyalty to the government," Engel said of his captors.
According to Engel, the gunmen planned to use them to gain the freedom of rebel-held allies. "They captured us in order to carry out this exchange," he said.
NBC stated that it had been unable to contact the team since they had been captured until they were freed on Monday and said they had not been in contact with the captors or had received a request for ransom.
The network had requested that reporters inquiring about Engel and his crew's disappearance participate in a news blackout, Gawker reported on Monday afternoon. According to Gawker, NBC had asked several people on Twitter to take down reports by Turkish news sites. Despite the news blackout, details of Engel's kidnapping were reported by several international news outlets and then shared by American reporters through social media.
The non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders reported that 88 journalists have been killed and 158 journalists have been imprisoned in 2012. According to a report by the organization, Syria ranks 176 in press freedom index.